Page 177 HISTORY OF DECOYS.

HISTORY OF DECOYS.

As Yorkshire consists of so much arable land, mountain and heather, with a seacoast on one side only, and that devoid of ooze-banks, it is naturally not much frequented by the aquatic species. Yet the most favoured portions of the county for wildfowl. are still the lowlands of Holderness, and the shores of the Humber estuary. Long since, wildfowl abounded in the marshes that circumscribe the estuary of the Tees, but with the introduction of railways, blast furnaces, and steam vessels, they have deserted that locality.

Decoys in use.
	Hornby Castle.	Thirkleby Park.

Decoys not in use.
	Coatham. Escrick (2). Osgodby. Meaux. Watton. Scarborough.	Holme. Sunk Island. Thorne. Goole. Birdsall.

Hornby the park at Hornby Castle, 5 miles NW. of Bedale, are two Decoy ponds, one disused, and the other, till lately, the only example of a Decoy in use in the county. The original Decoy was constructed for the seventh Duke of Leeds, in 1854. It is 7 acres in extent, and has the remains of four pipes. In 1882, the present Duke moved the material of the pipes from the old Decoy to their new position. The original Decoy is situated south of the Castle, between the Stone Pond and the present Decoy, which is now in the Blessington plantation close by. The new pipes were excavated under the direction of Lord Fitzhardinge's Decoyman, from Berkeley Castle. The new pool is about 60 yards square, and the pipes are at the corners, as is the case at Berkeley Castle and other Decoys in the west of England. The old Decoy was found to be too large, the fowl keeping out of reach of the pipes and of the Decoyman. The new Decoy, being much smaller, is more easily managed, and is precisely similar to the one shown facing page 93. The first pipe made at Hornby on the old Decoy was made by Harrison, Capt. Healy's Decoyman at Ashby in Lincolnshire.