58
THE BIRDS OF ESSEX.
invade their retreat, he disappears at the next opening, but in another
second is seen a few yards higher up the pipe. Prompted by curiosity, and
taking courage from numbers, they advance towards the dog, exactly in the
same manner as a flock of sheep will do in a field when disturbed by the same
visitor; but again he has vanished, and they stop, wondering. He appears
again still a little higher up the pipe, and they follow more confidently, perhaps
believing that they are driving him away; but at last he vanishes altogether,
and while they are looking for bis reappearance they are startled by the figure of
the decoyman between them and the pond, waving his hat as in the previous
case. Completely frightened, they follow their instincts, fly up the pipe, and are
all soon secured in the tunnel net. Should the dog by any accident mistake the
screen at which he has to show, and appear behind the birds in the pipe, they
will at once become alarmed, and swim back into the pond.
The number of birds caught at each attempt varies according to the numbers
in the pond and the state of the birds themselves, the younger birds being, of
course, the most easily enticed into the pipe. In favourable seasons from one to
two hundred are sometimes caught in a day, while on other days few are taken
at all. The number in each drive is usually between ten and fifty, but occasion-
ally considerably exceeds the latter number. After making catches in a pipe by
both feeding and the dog, the decoyman has to leave the remainder alone till a
later period in the day, when the birds having altered their position in the pond
some are again near the mouth of the pipe. There is usually only one pipe at
which they can be caught by feeding, but the dog may often be successful at
another, perhaps two others, if the wind lies between them. On some days the
birds are much more sluggish than at others, and will hardly take any notice
of either the dog or food. At such times the decoyman will send his dog sud-
denly into the midst of those " banking," and they scramble frightened into the
pond ; but before they have recovered their senses the dog has disappeared, and
they only see him again presently in the mouth of the pipe. The numbers taken
by means of the dog are mure than those by feeding, but it is a curious fact that
the hen birds are the most ready to follow the dog, and the males to be caught
by the food—so much so, that the birds in one catch are nearly all of the same sex.
Wild Duck, Widgeon, and Teal rise when alarmed, but there is one variety of
the Duck-tribe—the Pochard or Dunbird—which is by habit a diver, and in a
pond of this description escapes the fate of the others by swimming back under
water from the pipe into the open. In places where their numbers render it
worth while, a particular arrangement of the pond is made, and they are taken
by an ingenious net, which is suddenly placed in their line of flight as they leave
the pond at dusk. The net, which is very large is stretched between two poles,
laid horizontally near the side of the ponds, but fixed on pivots, and so weighted
that by severing a rope the decoyman can cause them to spring up suddenly into
the perpendicular. This he does the moment the birds rise to leave the pond
(there being several nets to suit the different winds, as in the case of the pipes),
and the flock, striking the net, fall into baskets or pens placed underneath, from
which they are unable to rise before the decoyman has time to secure them.
Great numbers have been caught in this manner, but the plan is only adopted
for Dunbirds ; and at ponds where other kinds of wildfowl are more numerous
there is a difficulty in using the nets without frightening away more than are
caught. The best known pond of this description is in the island of Mersea, at
the mouth of the Blackwater.
Day by day the spoil of the pond is sent up to Leadenhall Market. The
prices, of course, vary much during the season, and depend upon the severity of
the weather, as in a hard winter vast quantities of wild-fowl are sent from abroad.
The following information regarding Essex Decoys, past and
present, is mainly condensed from Sir R. P. Gallwey's remarks
(49. 76-92), but I am also greatly indebted to Mr. E. A. Fitch, who
has been indefatigable in hunting up scraps of half-forgotten informa-
tion relating to our ancient decoys.