Page 83 HISTORY OF DECOYS.

     From this table it appears that the amount realized by the sale of wildfowl during thirteen years was Ł1,326 1s. 6d., or an average of Ł102 per annum.
    It would seem that nearly all the Ducks and Teal taken in this Decoy were foreigners, and not home-bred birds; for it is remarkable that during the months of August and September, before the large migrating flocks had arrived, comparatively few were captured, which would scarcely have been the case had these birds nested in any numbers in the surrounding marshes.
     Since writing the above, I have found in the British Museum an old map of Essex, dated in MS. 1719, and entered in the map catalogue as [1720?], wherein the site of this Decoy is clearly marked. It is placed on the east bank of Steeple Creek, between Steeple and the Blackwater This map was prepared from a survey made by John Warburton, F.R.S., and Somerset Herald, assisted by Messrs. Bland and Smith."

Page 82
Index List of Illustrations
Page 84

	Ducks.	Teal.	Pyntail.	Wiggin.	Ł.	s.	d.
1714 1715 1716 1717 1718 1719 1720 1721 1722 1723 1724 1725 1726	675 449 392 329 193 207 81 267 568 449 498 202 266	347 518 154 30 40 14 07 24 17 70 145 19 11	46 42 15 1 6 2 0 3 8 7 4 4 0	6296 6088 5817 5207 3138 825 2789 3317 4514 3260 1306 1671 449	150 143 147 130 78 27 62 94 164 142 81 69 33	00 04 04 08 13 15 00 16 15 08 16 18 00	00 04 02 09 08 06 3 00 08 08 06 00 00

HISTORY OF DECOYS.


Whether this falling off was occasioned by the. establishment, or successful working, of other Decoys in the neighbourhood, or by the reclamation and cultivation of the surrounding marsh lands, does not appear; both these causes probably had their influence upon the birds. Here is the summary referred to:-