WILD DUCKS AND DUCK DECOYING.
There is no European country, however fortunately situated, which has
so many species of wild-fowl as Britain. This is partly owing to its
insular position, and partly to the food-abounding seas which are on
every coast. In their primitive condition these islands must have
constituted a very paradise for wild-fowl, and we know that the marsh
and fen lands of the south-eastern counties were breeding haunts of
myriads of fowl not more than two centuries ago. Even now there are
nearly thirty species of wild duck which are either resident or annual
visitants to our marine and inland waters. Nearly half of these are now
known to have bred within the British Isles, the remaining ones coming
from the north only at the severity of winter.
Wild ducks divide themselves into two natural groups according to habit
and the manner in which they obtain their food. Sportsmen and fowlers
refer to those divisions as "surface" and "diving" ducks. Those which
comprise the first class feed exclusively upon the surface and inhabit
fresh water; the latter are mostly marine forms, and in procuring their
food the whole body is submerged. Among the surface-feeding ducks are
the shoveller, sheldrake, mallard, pintail, gadwall, garganey, widgeon,
and teal; whilst the latter include the tufted duck, scaup, scoter,
surf scoter, velvet scoter, pochard, and golden-eye. Other British
ducks which would come naturally into one or other of these groups, but
are more or less rare, are the eiders, American widgeon, red-crested
pochard, smew, the mergansers, and the buffel-headed, long-tailed,
ruddy sheld, Steller's western, ferruginous, and harlequin ducks.
From the fact of their resorting to inland waters the surface-feeding
ducks are perhaps the best known. All of them are shy, wary birds, and
as difficult of approach as to bring down. Nearly all the species which
inhabit fresh water feed during the night, and fly off to the hills to
rest and sleep during the day. All of them are birds of considerable
powers of flight, and an interesting fact in their economy is the power
of the males to change their summer plumage so as to resemble that of
the females. As this adaptation only takes place during the breeding
season it is probably done for protective reasons.
The common mallard or wild duck, and the teal, being resident breeding
birds, are the first to become noticeable in winter, and many thousands
are annually taken in the few remaining decoys of this country. The
mallard is an exceedingly handsome bird, and one of the largest of its
kind. It is an early breeder, and soon after the brown duck begins to
sit the male moults the whole of its flight feathers. So sudden and
simultaneous is this process that for six weeks in summer the usually
handsome drake is quite incapable of flight; and it is probably at this
period of its ground existence that the assumption of the duck's
plumage is such an aid to protection. The mallard is not strictly a
ground builder, as its nest is sometimes at a considerable altitude,
nests of a rook and a hawk having been taken advantage of. In such case
the young birds are probably brought to the ground in the bill of the
old one. To such an extent did the mallard at one time breed among the
fens in this country, that it was customary before the young could fly
for a number of persons to engage in what was termed a "driving of
ducks," when as many as one thousand eight hundred birds have been
taken. Although wild and wary under ordinary circumstances, the mallard
upon occasion has shown remarkable tameness. In severe weather two
hundred birds have assembled upon a pond and accepted oats at not more
than an arm's length from the feeder. Under ordinary circumstances the
common wild duck feeds upon floating grasses, grain, insects, and
worms; a well-grown mallard sometimes weighs three pounds.
The teal is the smallest of the wild ducks, and is an
exquisitely-formed and prettily-marked species. It is dear to the
fowler as the gourmet, for it is easily decoyed or stalked, and when
procured affords delicate eating. Many a time does the heart of the
shore-shooter warm as he hears the whistle of a bunch of teal, and sees
them drop down like a plummet. They love to haunt the margins of
fresh-water streams and lakes, and when put away from these rise
rapidly and as though they had been shot from the water. It is only
when their inland resorts are hard frozen that they are driven to the
sea, and once here every art of the fowler is used in coming up with
them. As many as eighty-five and upon another occasion one hundred and
six teal have been picked up after a well-directed shot from a
punt-gun--the former by Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey, the latter off the
Irish coast. Both shots were at flying birds. The teal is an early
breeder, and being resident is among the first of the ducks seen on the
decoys, and with the mallard is the species most abundantly taken. It
is liable to the same sexual change in the breeding season, and during
the time it has young is most affectionate in tending them. An anecdote
is related of how a country lad having fallen in with a brood of teal
drove them before him to a lodge. The mother teal followed after,
keeping close at hand. When the boy had driven them into a little shed
within the yard, the old bird, still following, ran in after them, and
in spite of there being dogs and men about did not betray the least
alarm.
The sheldrake is one of the largest and handsomest of its kind, and
although rare as a resident bird, I have frequently found its nest in
rabbit burrows on the shores of Morecambe Bay. It is at all times one
of the most distinctive of the ducks with its bright and well-defined
chestnut and white plumage. The head and neck are black, but this glows
with an iridescent green. Naturalists do not consider this a true duck,
but from structural modifications as a connecting link between the
ducks and geese. It usually breeds on a plateau commanding the sea, and
when approaching its nest it plumps right down to the mouth of the
hole. Its creamy white eggs are large and round, eight to twelve being
usually found in the burrow. For a day or so after the young are
hatched they are kept underground, and immediately upon emerging are
led down to the tide. I have not unfrequently taken the eggs from the
sand-hills and hatched them under hens--a quite successful experiment
up to a certain point. The young seem to be able to smell salt water,
and will cover miles of land to gain it. If, however, the distance
prove impracticable they will surely leave in autumn when the migratory
impulse is strong upon them. This instinct is particularly marked in
all sea-fowl, and wild swans, geese, and ducks call loudly to their
farm cousins as they pass over. There is a great wildness about the
clangour and cries of migratory fowl, coming as it does far up in the
wintry sky. Reverting to the breeding of the shelduck, the parents have
been observed conveying the newly-hatched young to the sea on their
backs when the nest has been far inland. In Holland recesses are cut in
the dunes and sand-hills so as to encourage the birds to breed, and
each morning the nests are visited and the eggs collected. Ordinarily
not more than a dozen eggs are laid, but under this system as many as
thirty are produced by a single duck. After the 18th of June the
persecution ceases and the birds are allowed to hatch in peace. Most of
the nests are lined with fine down little inferior in quality to that
of the eiders, this too becoming a commercial commodity.
Being driven from their bleak northern haunts by the ice, widgeon
appear in immense flocks in winter, and are by far the commonest of the
migratory ducks. They first begin to arrive about October, and continue
coming until the end of the year. Although found upon inland lochs and
rivers, they love to frequent weed or grass-grown ooze and mud-banks,
where they sleep and feed. The widgeon is an exception to most of the
wild ducks, as it feeds more by day than by night, and, like geese, it
is particularly fond of nibbling the short grass on the saltings. It
has a wild whistle which resembles the syllable "whew"--by which name
the bird is known on many parts of the coast. Sometimes during a lull
in a spell of rough weather vast flocks concentrate themselves on the
ooze, and it is at this time they are sought by the puntsman or fowler.
When good shots have been obtained at such masses of birds over a
hundred have been killed at a single shot, and this explains why
widgeon are sold so cheaply in the markets. When winter breaks up the
flocks retire northward, only a few remaining to breed on the northern
parts of Britain. The widgeon is not known to have nested in England.
The shoveller is another handsomely-plumaged duck, and has its name
from its shovel-shaped bill, by which characteristic it may be known at
a glance. It is a winter visitant to our shores, though not in any
great numbers, and breeds not unfrequently in several of the
south-eastern counties as well as more sparingly in the north. It
rarely frequents the sea, being fond of fresh water, and is remarkable
in the fact that it does not reach down like other ducks to procure its
food; it rather filters the water through its bill, retaining the solid
animal matter, and allowing the rest to filter through two peculiar
processes with which it is fitted. It is rather a foul feeder, swims
low in the water, and is admirably fitted for its special mode of life.
The gadwall, which has been described as a "thoroughbred" looking duck,
is the rarest yet mentioned. It may not unfrequently be passed over,
not only on account of its great shyness, but because it so much
resembles the common domestic ducks. It is rare, too, as a breeding
species, but an experiment tried in Norfolk shows how easily it may be
acclimatised. Here, on the South Acre Decoy, a pair of captured birds
were pinioned and turned down, until now, these having bred and
attracted others, it is computed that between fourteen and fifteen
hundred birds are on the water. The gadwall affords admirable eating.
The garganey or summer teal is the smallest of the wild ducks with one
exception. Unlike the rest, it is not a winter visitant, but only comes
to us in early spring on its way northward, and again in autumn on its
southward journey. It is an active species, swimming and flying
quickly. On land it feeds upon water-weeds, frogs, and grain, and at
sea upon crustaceans and molluscs. A few of the migratory birds are
known to remain and nest in the reed beds in Norfolk, though the great
majority seek their northern breeding grounds. Blue-winged teal is a
name given to this prettily-marked species, which to those who know its
congener is fairly descriptive. The last of the surface-feeding ducks
is the pintail, and if this is also described as handsome it is because
there are but few of the wild ducks which are not. It is one of the
most graceful, too, and owing to the long central tail feathers of the
male is sometimes called the sea-pheasant. Although often obtained by
fowlers along the coast, it is also found on inland decoys, and feeds
upon aquatic plants, insect larva, and molluscs. Its flesh is next in
delicacy to that of the teal, and is held in estimation at table. It is
much more rare in the northern than in the southern counties, and off
the coast of Cornwall thirty-seven birds have been bagged at one shot.
The pintail breeds but rarely in England.
We now come to the diving ducks. Speaking generally, the "surface"
ducks haunt fresh water; diving ducks the sea. The most prominent of
these are the scaup; common, velvet, and surf scoters; the pochard,
golden-eye, and tufted duck.
The inland sportsman or decoy-man knows little of the diving ducks.
Some of them keep close to land, but for the most part they are at
home far out at sea. It is interesting to watch parties of these
playing and chasing each other over the crests of the waves, and
seeming indifferent to the roughest weather. The three scoters may
be met with fifty miles from land in loosely floating flocks of
thousands. The common scoter is a winter visitant to our coasts,
sometimes coming in such numbers that the waters between the eastern
counties and Holland seem covered with them. This also holds good
with regard to the west coast, where the scoters arrive in July. They
stay for some days on fresh water; but, once launched on their winter
haunt, it is not unusual for a single fisherman to take half a
cartload in his "dowker" nets in a morning. The scoter is entirely
black; it dives remarkably well, and can remain a long time under
water. It feeds upon mussels and other soft bivalves, following the
advancing tides shoreward in search of them. These facts the
fisherman notes, and works accordingly. He marks where the birds
feed, sees their borings and stray feathers, and when the tide has
ebbed spreads his nets. These are attached by a peg at each corner,
and laid about fifteen inches above the ground. Returning to feed
with the tide, the ducks dive head foremost into the nets and become
hopelessly fast. Another of the sea-ducks, the scaup, is also taken
in large numbers in this way. But, owing to the oily nature of their
flesh and its fishy taste, these birds are rarely eaten. It is owing
to this fact that during Lent in Catholic countries the flesh of the
scoter is allowed to be eaten. Close cousin to the last and somewhat
rarer is the velvet scoter, a handsome duck, with velvety black
plumage relieved by a purely white patch on the wing and a
crescent-shaped spot of the same colour under the eye. This, too, is
a winter visitant, enjoying and obtaining its food in the roughest
wintry seas. A few velvet scoters may always be seen among the
immense flocks of the common kind. In haunt and habit, as well as
food, the common and velvet scoters are identical. The surf scoter is
the rarest of the three British species, and is intermediate in size
between the two last. With black plumage like its congeners, it is
characteristically marked by a white spot on the forehead and an
elongated white streak down the neck. The roughest seas have no
terror to the surf scoter, and it is such an expert diver as to be
able to fish at a depth of several fathoms. None of the scoters breed
in Britain, but nest in the great Northern marshes.
Another of the well-known marine ducks is the pochard, or dun-bird. To
fishermen and fowlers it is known as "poker" and "redhead," owing to
the bright chestnut colouring of its head and neck. This, with its
black breast and beautifully freckled grey back, make it a handsome
bird. It is somewhat heavily made, swims low in the water, and from its
legs being placed far behind for diving it is awkward on land. In
winter the pochard is abundant on the coast, but it is one of the
shyest of fowl and is always difficult of approach. If alarmed it
paddles rapidly away, turning its head and keeping its eye on the
intruder. As a consequence of its extreme wariness pochards are much
more frequently netted than shot. This kind of fowling was mainly
practised on flight ponds near the coast, especially in the
south-eastern counties. And this is how it was done: "The water was
surrounded with huge nets, fastened between poles laid flat on the
ground when ready for action, each net being perhaps sixty feet long
and twenty feet deep. When all was ready, the pochards were frightened
up out of the water. Like all diving ducks, they are obliged to fly low
for some distance, and also to head the wind before rising. Just as the
mass of birds reached the side of the pool, one of the immense nets,
previously regulated by weights and springs, rose upright as it was
freed from its fastenings by the fowler from a distance with a long
rope. If this were done at the right moment, the ducks were met full in
the face by a wall of net and thrown helpless into a deep ditch dug at
its foot for their reception."
Most of the marine ducks are unfit for the table, the pochard and
tufted ducks being exceptions--probably from the fact of their often
resorting to fresh water. Akin to the last is the red-crested pochard
or whistling duck--a rare British visitant, closely resembling its
congener, but having a long silky crest on the head, and rich black
neck, breast, and abdomen. The visits of this beautiful bird are very
rare.
The scaup is another sea-duck which makes its appearance in autumn in
large numbers, resorting to low oozy coasts, where it finds its food.
This consists principally of shell-fish, especially mussels; hence it
is sometimes called "mussel-duck." It is an expert diver, and a flock
of hundreds of scaup may sometimes be seen to immerse themselves at the
same moment. Like the division to which it belongs, the scaup is a
heavy thick-set duck, and among the least eatable of its kind; yet
hundreds are taken by the fishermen in their nets. Another of the
winter ducks is the golden-eye, the mature male of which is among the
handsomest and wariest of its kind. The golden-eye reaches our shores
about the end of October; the great majority being birds of the year,
with only a few matured males among them. Their extreme wariness makes
it almost impossible to approach a flock, and when on sheets of fresh
water they persistently keep near the middle. If the duck is difficult
to come at by the shore-shooter or on land, it is equally puzzling to
the puntsman. Instead of paddling away like other ducks when alarmed,
it immediately takes wing, and after having dived, it can shoot from
the water without waiting on the surface an instant. This species has
also several remarkable characteristics. The members of a flock
paddling in the sea are never all immersed at once, one or more always
remaining on the surface as sentinels. Another trait is the almost
invariable habit of nesting in holes, so that the Laps place darkened
boxes by the sides of rivers and lakes for the ducks to lay in. Often
as many as a dozen eggs are found, and the nests are lined with the
soft down of the ducks. On our coasts these ducks feed upon crustaceans
and molluscs, and many fishermen know it by the name of
"mussel-cracker." "Rattlewing" is another provincial name owing to the
musical whistle which the bird makes with its wings when flying. Its
short rounded wings are ever restless; the shy little duck is
ceaselessly swimming, diving, flying--never seeming to sleep and never
still. The pride of plumage of the golden-eye stands it in little stead
at table, where it is considered nearly worthless. An interesting
incident which lingers in the writer's memory had for its subject a
pair of male golden-eyes in all the glory of matured plumage. A friend
during a solitary ramble by a rush-grown mountain tarn had the good
fortune to see these birds well within shot. Being a keen sportsman and
fowler his fingers tingled to touch the trigger which should bring the
rare prize to his hand. He was quite unaware of any other presence when
a couple of shots awoke the echoes of the valley, and the ducks floated
lifeless upon the water. When the white smoke lifted from the brush and
reeds it showed the head and shoulders of a keen sporting friend of the
first observer, and a beautiful drake now adorns the collection of
each. The tufted duck is a prettily-marked species, and has the
feathers on the back of the head elongated into a drooping crest. The
upper plumage generally is black, flashing with green, bronze, and
purple lustres, and the under plumage white. Although numbers of tufted
ducks breed upon fresh water in this country, the great majority are
only winter visitants, coming in October and leaving again in March. It
rarely congregates in flocks, but is mostly found in scattered
squadrons about shores and channels. Norfolk and Nottingham are the
counties where the tufted ducks are known to breed, and here on decoys
or in parks they find favourite retreats. The nest is made under a
clump of grass or rushes, and from ten to thirteen eggs are laid.
Eider-ducks are among the most interesting of our sea-birds. Three
species are found in this country; these are the common eider, the king
eider, and Steller's eider.
The British eiders are essentially sea ducks--rarely even entering
rivers, and seldom roving far inland. Occasionally found in our
southern seas, they become more numerous as we ascend the east coast,
until upon the Farnes, off Northumberland, we reach their most southern
breeding haunts. On Holy Island and Lindisfarne a few pairs of St.
Cuthbert's ducks have bred time out of mind. Except during times of
nesting, the whole life of the bird seems spent upon the element whence
it derives its food--crustaceans, namely--and this it always obtains by
diving. In their northern breeding haunts the eiders begin to collect
about the first week in May, and by the end of the third week most of
the ducks have begun to lay. As soon as the colony has got well about
this business the drakes leave the land, and for weeks may be seen
between the islands, or spreading themselves down the coast-line in
search of favourite feeding grounds. They never go far from the ducks
however, nor do they at this time take long flights. In fact, the
eider, unlike most ducks, is not migratory at any season, and seldom
strays far from the spot where it was bred. During the nesting season,
as at all others, the plumage of the male and female birds is very
dissimilar. In the former, the upper part of the head is of a rich
velvety black, while the sharply-contrasting neck and back are of the
purest white; beneath, the plumage is black. At the same period the
female is of a subdued rufous brown, with more or less dark markings;
the tail feathers are now nearly black.
The colonies of breeding eiders often consist of an immense number of
birds, and the nests lie so thickly together that it is difficult to
avoid stepping into them. They are usually placed upon some slight
elevation; and here in any faint depression the duck collects a small
quantity of sea-weed and drift stuff, which she forms into a felty mass
by kneading it with her breast. Upon this four or five eggs are laid in
the course of a week; the eggs are pale green, rather like those of the
heron. Even before the last egg is laid it is seen that a few feathers
are scattered about the nest, and as incubation proceeds these increase
in quantity. For the sitting bird covers her treasures over with down
plucked from her breast; this she does day by day until a very
considerable quantity buries the eggs. It is this down which has become
such an important article of commerce. If the eiders are sitting under
natural conditions the eggs are hatched in about twenty-six days, and
the young birds are almost immediately taken down to the water. They
show no hesitation in entering the sea, and, once upon it, are quite at
home. It is here that they sun themselves, feed, and sleep. On a
rock-bound bit of coast it is interesting to watch the ducklings
paddling along by the stones and feeding upon the tiny bivalves that
are common along the bays and inlets.
These remarks refer to the breeding of wild eiders; but, unfortunately,
colonies of birds under natural conditions are becoming more and more
rare each year. The commercial collector has almost everywhere stepped
in, and is putting a terrible drain upon this interesting species.
"Where the brown duck strips her breast,
For her dear eggs and windy nest,
Three times her bitter spoil is won
For woman; and when all is done
She calls her snow-white piteous drake,
Who plucks his bosom for our sake."
There is truth in these lines every one. In our own country the birds
breed along the shores of the Firth of Forth, as well as in the Orkneys
and Shetlands; on Colonsay and Islay it also abounds, and less
frequently in many other northern breeding stations. It is in still
more northern haunts, however, that the vast breeding colonies are
found--in the Faroes, Iceland, and along the shores of the Scandinavian
peninsula. In Norway, as in some other places, this bird is protected
by law, though only to be persecuted the more persistently by private
individuals. On one island, that of Isafjardarjup, the eider ducks are
said to nest in thousands. Speaking of the breeding sites by the shore,
Mr. Shepherd, who visited the colony, tells us that the brown ducks sat
upon their nests in masses, and at every step started from beneath the
feet. On this island, of three-quarters of a mile in length, it was
difficult to walk without stepping into the nests. The island was one
that was farmed. A thick stone breakwater ran along its coasts just
above high-water mark. At the bottom and sides of the wall, alternate
stones had been left out so as to form a series of compartments for the
ducks to nest in. Every compartment was tenanted, and as the visitors
walked along the ducks flew out all along the line. These were welcomed
by the white drakes, which were tossing on the water, "with loud and
clamorous cooing." A farmhouse on the island was tenanted in like
manner. The house itself was "a great marvel." Ducks were hatching on
the turf walls which surrounded it, in the window embrasures, on the
ground, on the roof. "The house was fringed with ducks," and "a duck
sat in the scraper." Then a grassy bank close by was cut into squares,
every one of which was occupied. A windmill was packed; and so was
every available object on the island--mounds, rock, and crevices. This
was an eider-down farm. So tame were the ducks as to allow the farmer's
wife to stroke them as they sat on their nests. Of course there is
another side to this pleasant picture, as we see, when we learn how the
"good lady" of the island repays the confidence of the birds. But we
will allow Dr. Hartwig to tell it in his own way. He says:
"The eider-down is easily collected, as the birds are quite tame. The
female having laid five or six pale greenish-olive eggs, in a nest
thickly lined with her beautiful down, the collectors, after carefully
removing the bird, rob the nest of its contents, after which they
replace her. She then begins to lay afresh--though this time only three
or four eggs--and again has recourse to the down of her body. But the
greedy persecutors once more rifle her nest, and oblige her to line it
for the third time. Now, however, her own stock of down is exhausted,
and with a plaintive voice she calls her mate to her assistance, who
willingly plucks the soft feathers from his breast to supply the
deficiency. If the cruel robbery be again repeated, which in former
times was frequently the case, the poor eider-duck abandons the spot,
never to return, and seeks for a new home where she may indulge her
maternal instinct undisturbed by the avarice of man."
Nature is prolific even in her waste; but although eiders are
plentiful, their breeding places are local, and this drain on them
cannot long be continued without telling materially upon the species.
In the locality referred to, each nest yields about one-sixth of a
pound of down, worth from twelve to fifteen shillings a pound, and one
pound and a half is required to make a single coverlet. The eggs are
pickled for winter use, one or two only being left to hatch.
It need only be added that the eider is said to be the swiftest of all
ducks, flying at the rate of nearly a hundred miles an hour.
Of the remaining rarer ducks are the ruddy-sheld, the long-tailed, and
harlequin ducks. The ruddy-sheld is an exquisitely coloured duck with
rufous plumage; and the harlequin, with its numerous bright colours,
may be said to be the handsomest and rarest of all. The long-tailed
duck is sometimes called the sea-pheasant, and is not unfrequently
found on our coasts in rough weather.
Duck decoying is one of the oldest methods of taking winter wild-fowl.
It has been practised for centuries, and perhaps nowhere with greater
success than in our own country. Owing to its insular position Britain
has always been a great resort of fowl, and in times past it was
visited by myriad of swans, geese, and ducks, many of which annually
remained to breed. The marsh and fenlands of the south-eastern counties
constituted tracts alike favourable for food and nesting, and for the
most part the birds were undisturbed. But as the plough invaded their
haunts the marsh was converted into corn-land, and from that time the
breeding sea-fowl have steadily declined in numbers. The oldest decoys
were merely adapted sheets of water, but when these, by virtue of
having been drained, were no longer available, artificial ones were
constructed in likely situations and planted round with timber to
secure their privacy. Many of the decoys were farmed by fowlers, and
the more valuable afforded a considerable source of revenue to the
owners. Speaking of the dwellers in Croyland, Camden says that: "Their
greatest gain is from the fish and wild ducks that they catch, which
are so many, that in August they can drive at once into a single net
three thousand ducks." He further adds that they call the pools in
which the ducks are obtained their corn-fields, though there is no corn
grown for miles round. For the privilege of taking fish and fowl three
hundred pounds sterling were originally paid to the Abbots of Croyland,
and afterwards to the king. Although the "driving of ducks" was
allowed, a code of Fen laws decreed that neither nets nor engines
should be used against the fowl "commonly called moulted ducks" before
midsummer day yearly. In the early days of the decoys enormous
quantities of fowl were taken in them. As many as 31,200 duck, teal,
and widgeon were captured near Wainfleet in a single season, and 2,646
mallards in two days. In these early times it is said that a flock of
wild ducks has been observed passing over the Fens in a continuous
stream for eight hours together.
Lincolnshire is pre-eminently the land of wild-fowl, and at one of the
smallest decoys--that at Ashby--where the records have been carefully
kept, it is seen that from 1833 to 1868, 48,664 ducks were captured in
the pipes; 4,287 being the best take for any one year. Both now and in
times past the ducks have always been sent to the London markets, and
constitute an important food supply. The waters of the decoys are, of
course, always fresh, and, being mostly frequented by the
surface-feeding ducks, the great majority of the birds taken are held
in estimation at table. It is true that widgeon and other of the diving
ducks are sometimes driven to the decoys by rough sea weather, but
these are too wary to enter the pipes, nor do they stay after the
storms have abated. The ducks which constitute the commercial supply
are mostly mallard and teal, with a few widgeon and a sprinkling of the
rarer or marine forms according to season and the severity of the
weather. I have before me a complete record of the fowl taken at one
decoy for nearly a century, and this is interesting as showing not only
the number of divers taken, but also a record of the species. That the
migratory fowl return to the same waters year after year is confirmed
by the fact that at the Ashby Decoy, already referred to, a "grey" duck
with a conspicuous white neck spent eight winters there; and another
abnormally coloured one visited it regularly for four or five years.
The duck decoys, once common throughout the country, fell into general
disuse about the beginning of the present century; and their decline
has been contemporaneous with the improvements made in firearms and all
relating to shooting. Often as many marine ducks are bagged by one shot
from a punt gun as the fowler can take in a day, and whilst the former
can follow the birds, the latter must wait for their coming before he
can commence decoying.
Duck decoying is one of the most interesting phases of woodcraft, and
really skilled modern fowlers are as rare as trained falconers.
Moreover, decoying is one of the fine arts. The decoy-man surrounds his
craft with as much mystery as the old fish poacher his preparation of
salmon roe, and fowling secrets are often kept in families for
generations.
The best decoys are those about two or three acres in extent, and
surrounded with wood. On larger ones fowl are difficult to work, and
although there may be thousands on the water, none may be near enough
to a "pipe" to regard either the dog or the "call" ducks. Before
speaking of the actual working, it may be well to give a general
outline of a decoy. Imagine then a stretch of water about the size
indicated, and having five or six radiating arms or inlets--a figure
represented exactly by a starfish, or the body and legs of a spider.
The arms, called "pipes," curve away from the main pool so that it is
impossible to see more than a short distance up them. They are also
arranged that whichever way the wind blows, one or other of the pipes
may be approached without getting to windward of the quick-scented
fowl. The "pipes" are covered over with netting, and gradually diminish
in height and width till they terminate in a "tunnel-net." Wooden
palings bound these, built obliquely, over-lapping at regular
intervals, and connected by low barriers. By this arrangement any one
standing behind the palings is only visible to whatever is further up
the "pipe," and cannot be seen by the occupants of the pool. This then
is the general structure.
And now we must look to other matters essential to the general working
of a decoy. About midsummer the "call" ducks are put upon the water,
and their training is at once taken in hand. As this is an important
part of the process, the ducks should be young, made very tame, and
taught to come to any pipe from all parts of the pool when they are
whistled. Previously these have been pinioned to prevent their flying
away, and they cannot leave the lake. Still another requisite is a
well-trained dog. Custom has always established that this shall be red
and as "foxy"-looking as possible; and certainly dogs of this colour
prove especially attractive to wild-fowl.
About the beginning of September mallard and teal begin to congregate
in the decoys, and a month later, if easterly winds prevail, there will
probably be a flight of fowl from the north, consisting of mallards,
teal, widgeon, pochards, and shovellers. These are attracted to the
decoys by the resident birds, but more because it is their habit to fly
off at dusk, and return at daybreak to sleep and enjoy themselves in
the fancied security of the reedy pool.
Nothing requires more care and judgment than the successful decoying of
ducks. It is carried on most successfully between nine and ten in the
morning and three and four in the afternoon. In open weather the fowl
are captured almost entirely by means of the dog, but as soon as frost
sets in they are taken by feeding them in the pipe, and keeping a piece
of water constantly open near it. Now as to the actual working. If the
birds are sluggish the trained dog cleverly works them from the bank,
and either drives or attracts them by curiosity to the pipe to be
worked, being also aided by the decoy ducks and induced to stay by
finding corn scattered about. By skilful manipulation the fowl are
worked up the pipe, the dog trotting in and out of the reed-screens and
luring them further and further away. Soon they have made sufficient
progress to enable the man to show himself, and this he does at the
same time waving his hat. Retreat to the pool is cut off, and the
terrified birds rush up the pipe only to find themselves in the
narrowing tunnel-net which terminates it. This is at once detached, and
the final scene is the wringing of the ducks' necks by the decoy man.
As all the pipes curve to the right the decoying is unseen from the
pool, and one set of fowl can be "worked" whilst others are sleeping or
preening themselves on the lake. Further aids of concealment for the
working of the decoy other than those enumerated are banks of earth and
brushwood running parallel to the palings.
As sportsmen would rather shoot fowl than snare them, the decoy is
mostly interesting nowadays to naturalists and antiquarians. To show
their value, however, in times gone by, it may be mentioned that a
corporation has been known to invest trust funds in one, and that a
decoy in Suffolk, which sent a ton and a half of wild-fowl to London
four times a week, realised £1,000 a year. In this 16,800 ducks were
captured in a single season.