Page 149 HISTORY OF DECOYS.

The term " various " includes Swans, Pheasants, Snipe, Waterhens, Baldcoots and 2 Divers. A curious incident occurred on December 6, 1884. As the Decoyman was entering No. 1 pipe to feed the tame Ducks, a Heron pursued by a Peregrine dashed into the pipe. The man at once showed on them, ran them into the tunnel net, and took them both. The means employed for catching are the dog and feeding, a number of tame ducks being kept on the lake. The dog is of most use at the beginning of the season. As the Decoy was worked by the proprietor principally for his own amusement, the number of birds taken varied with the amount of time he was able to devote to Decoying.

Season.	First Birds Taken.	Last Birds Taken.	Duck.	Wigeon.	Teal.	Pintail.	Shoveller.	Various.	Total.
1877-78 1878-79 1879-80 1880-81 1881-82 1882-83 1883-84 1884-85	Nov. 28 Aug. 22 Sept. 17 Sept. 30 Sept. 28 Sept. 16 Aug. 25 Nov. 1	Feb. 15 Feb. 11 Feb. 14 Feb. 26 Feb. 23 Feb. 10 Feb. 23 Feb. 22	5 183 244 100 70 85 150 360	504 452 604 275 535 643 562 575	341 871 485 317 190 264 363 144	0 6 6 2 1 1 3 9	0 4 6 1 1 1 1 2	3 15 23 16 5 3 1 1	853 1,531 1,368 711 802 997 1,080 1,091

The first pipe at this Decoy was constructed by a gamekeeper named Sharpe, from Norfolk. Two others were made by George and T. Gilbert Skelton, and one of the Williamses from Suffolk made the last. The Decoy is situated within a short distance of the south shore of Milford Haven, a large extent of water and ooze much frequented by wildfowl.