60 THE BIRDS OF ESSEX.
2,000, and the decoy does not now do more than cover expenses.
About 1822. a Mr. Hudson, the then-tenant, cleared over £400 in
one year, which would represent at least 10,000 fowl taken. In
1795, however, according to Daniel (p. 49) this pond cleared
£800, after paying all expenses. It is also to this decoy that he
refers (6. iii. 266) where he says "that in 1799, 10,000 head of
Wigeon, Teal, and Wild Duck were caught in a decoy by the Rev.
Bate Dudley, in Essex." The decoy (says Sir R. P. Gallwey)
is one of the oldest in Essex, having doubtless been constructed
when the land on which it stands was reclaimed from the sea, about
200 years ago. Mr. Fitch, however, writes :—
" This Decoy was made quite at the end of last century. In Arthur Young's
Agricultural Survey of Essex (vol. ii, pp. 129-130) we read :—'The great exertion
that was made at Tillingham by the Rev. H. B. Dudley ten years ago, I heard on
every hand commended as one of the most considerable that Essex ever saw : 300
acres of saltings were taken in by a wall so complete that the expression used was "it
was executed famously!" He took down hills and banks, filled up rills, and reduced
the whole to a level. The cartage was all done by bullocks. He formed also a
decoy. It is rented under the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's ; was £800 a year
for 800 acres, 140 of which were arable. This Michaelmas (1805) he has relet
the 1,100 acres for the remainder of his lease at £1,750 per annum ; and in the
estimation of the country, his profit (so great was the expenditure) cannot be much
more than repaying an expense in which the public good has been promoted in an
extraordinary manner.'"
An old rate-book in the vestry at Tillingham gives the names of
former tenants as follows:—1795, Mr. Mascall; 1797, the Rev. Sir
Henry Bate Dudley; 1805, Mr. Alston; 1811, Mr. Kebbell; and
1815, Mr. R. Willes.* Mr. Page has most Wigeon in the decoy
in January, the next most productive months being February,
December, November, October, March, and September, in the
order named. In one year, four Wigeon were taken in August,
but in other years none until October. In ordinary years the adjoin-
ing Grange Decoy is said to be more profitable than this, but a great
deal depends on which gets what is called the "lead" of the birds.
An interesting collection of birds which have been taken at one
time or other in this decoy—some of them evidently by accident
—is preserved at Marsh House, Tillingham (Mr. Robt. Page's).
It comprises specimens of the following:—Hooded Crow, King-
fisher, Brown Owl, Kestrel, Sparrow-hawk, Peewit, Wild Duck, Scaup,
Garganey, Shoveller, Pintail, Wigeon, Gadwall, Scoter, Ferruginous
Duck, Tufted Duck, Smew, Coot, Redshank, Spotted Redshank,
* This record has been erroneously supposed (49.) to refer to the Glebeland Decoy (No. 4),
but a comparison with Arthur Young's remarks, quoted above, clearly shows that it relates to this
decoy, as the date of Sir H. B. Dudley having let Marsh House agrees exactly, and No. 4 is
moreover, in Bradwell, not Tillingham parish.