Page 132 THE BOOK OF DUCK DECOYS.

THE BOOK OF DUCK DECOYS.
The late Lieutenant- Colonel Duff, M.P., whose widow, Mrs. Petre, now owns the Westwick estate, kindly furnished Mr. Southwell with extracts from the Decoy-book for seventeen years, from which it appears that the average take during that period was about 400 each season. Since 1872-3 the fowl have been classified, and the number taken since then in six seasons is as follows:-2,362 Duck, 587 Teal, 3 Wigeon, and 3 Pintail ; total 2,955, or about 493 per season. Of the Teal 320 were killed in one season. In 1876-7, which was the best year recorded, 761 fowl were taken ; in 1877-8 only 320. Colonel Duff remarked that some years ago from 1,000 to 1300 was the usual take. In the season of 1884-5 718 Duck and 6 Teal were taken in the Westwick Decoy. A dog is not used, and the fowl are enticed into the pipes by feeding only. This Decoy, from the nature of the surrounding country and its secluded situation, is little affected by agricultural operations. South Acre, on the River Nar, 3½ miles N W. from Swaffham, and 3 miles from Narford Hall, on the estate of Mr. A. Fountaine, is a Decoy, still worked, which was made in 1843 by George Skelton for the Rev. John Fountaine, and concerning which Mr. Southwell obtained the following particulars from James Plumb, who was Decoyman there for twenty-three years. Plumb states that there was no Decoy-book kept, but the average take each season was about 300 fowl. These were chiefly Duck and Teal; Pintail were rare; Wigeon 3 or 4 yearly; Gadwall a few;* and Shovellers seen, but none taken. The largest takes were generally in November ; the numbers of both sexes were about equal ; Mallards were very seldom taken without Ducks. The pool, upon which this Decoy is made, is about an acre and a half in extent, and has four pipes. It closely resembles in form the Decoy at Didlington. Wretham, on a piece of water called " Mickle Mere," 30 acres in extent, situated in Wretham Park, about midway between Thetford and Watton, is a Decoy, or rather lake, with ten pipes, which was made some fifty years ago for the late Mr. Wyrley Birch, and has been worked pretty regularly ever since. A Decoy-book has been kept since 1868. The largest take in one year during Mr. Birch's superintendence was 1409 ; the smallest 125. In the latter case, however, the paucity of numbers was accounted for by the fact that some of the pipes were broken down by a heavy fall of snow. The months in which the best "takes" occur are very uncertain.

^* Gadwall now nest, and exist in considerable numbers, on the lake at Narford, as well as on the lakes near Merton.