HISTORY OF DECOYS. | |
| There are two trap doors, one at each end of the cage, and this is necessary on account of the ducks changing their position according to the wind. Either end can then be worked by means of two wires with separate wind-lasses from one "sight-house," as the cage being of wire netting the ducks can be easily seen through the partition in its centre. The Decoy birds are always fed inside the cages, and plenty of food is strewn therein at all times to tempt the wild birds to enter. Both trap doors are left up, and as soon as the Decoyman observes any wild birds in either partition, he slowly, and inch by inch, lowers the door that closes it, and so entraps the birds therein. He leaves them undisturbed on the chance of making another catch in the other partition, and does not take the captives out till after "flighting" time. (See plan 5 and on next page.) | |
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DECOYS IN THE COUNTY OF DORSET. | |
| Decoys in use. Abbotsbury. | Decoys not in use. Morden. Wimbourne |
| At Abbotsbury Castle, the residence of the Earl of llchester, 8 miles SW. of Dorchester, at the head of the Fleet estuary, between St. Catherine's Chapel and the seashore, is an ancient Decoy with four pipes. The date of its construction is not known to the owner, but it is on land that formerly belonged to the Abbots of the Monastery of St. Peter, and is, therefore, said to have existed before the dissolution. Great numbers of wildfowl-Duck, Teal, Wigeon, Tufted Duck, Pochard, and Golden-eye-visit it, but in consequence of there being a good deal of open water outside the Decoy, and shooting carried on during the season, no very large captures are made. About ten or twelve at a time, and a couple of hundred in the course of the winter, is the average take. Close to this Decoy in the West Fleet is the well-known Swannery, consisting of several hundred birds. In Hutchins' "History of Dorset," allusion is made to the Decoy and swannery at Abbotsbury as follows (Vol.11. p.273, 3rd edition):- "About a quarter mile SW. from Abbotsbury is a large Decoy, where great plenty of Wildfowl resort and are taken. | |