gravy, 4 shalots, a few slices of carrot, a small bunch of savoury
herbs, 1 blade of pounded mace, 1 lb. of turnips, weighed after being
peeled, 2 oz. of butter, pepper and salt to taste.
_Mode_.--Cut up the duck into joints, fry the shalots, carrots, and
herbs, and put them, with the duck, into the gravy; add the pounded
mace, and stew gently for 20 minutes or 1/2 hour. Cut about 1 lb. of
turnips, weighed after being peeled, into 1/2-inch squares, put the
butter into a stewpan, and stew them till quite tender, which will be in
about 1/2 hour, or rather more; season with pepper and salt, and serve
in the centre of the dish, with the duck, &c. laid round.
_Time_.--Rather more than 1/2 hour to stew the turnips.
_Average cost_, exclusive of the cold duck, 1s.
_Seasonable_ from November to February.
THE WILD DUCK.--In many parts of England the wild duck is to be
found, especially in those desolate fenny parts where water
abounds. In Lincolnshire they are plentiful, and are annually
taken in the decoys, which consist of ponds situate in the
marshes, and surrounded with wood or reeds to prevent the birds
which frequent them from, being disturbed. In these the birds
sleep during the day; and as soon as evening sets in, the _decoy
rises_, and the wild fowl feed during the night. Now is the time
for the decoy ducks to entrap the others. From the ponds
diverge, in different directions, certain canals, at the end of
which funnel nets are placed; along these the _decoy ducks_,
trained for the purpose, lead the others in search of food.
After they have got a certain length, a decoy-man appears, and
drives them further on, until they are finally taken in the
nets. It is from these decoys, in Lincolnshire, that the London
market is mostly supplied. The Chinese have a singular mode of
catching these ducks. A person wades in the water up to the
chin, and, having his head covered with an empty calabash,
approaches the place where the ducks are. As the birds have no
suspicion of the nature of the object which is concealed under
the calabash, they suffer its approach, and allow it to move at
will among their flock. The man, accordingly, walks about in the
midst of his game, and, whenever he pleases, pulls them by the
legs under the water, and fixes them to his belt, until he has
secured as many as he requires, and then moves off as he went
amongst them, without exciting the slightest suspicion of the
trick he has been playing them. This singular mode of
duck-hunting is also practised on the Ganges, the earthen
vessels of the Hindoos being used instead of calabashes. These
vessels, being those in which the inhabitants boil their rice,
are considered, after once being used, as defiled, and are
accordingly thrown into the river. The duck-takers, finding them
suitable for their purpose, put them on their heads; and as the
ducks, from seeing them constantly floating down the stream, are
familiar with their appearance, they regard them as objects from
which no danger is to be expected.
[Illustration: CALL-DUCKS.]
DUCK-SNARES IN THE LINCOLNSHIRE FENS.--The following interesting
account of how duck-snaring used to be managed in the
Lincolnshire fens, was published some years ago, in a work
entitled the "Feathered Tribes."--"In the lakes to which they
resorted, their favourite haunts were observed, and in the most
sequestered part of a haunt, a pipe or ditch was cut across the
entrance, decreasing gradually in width from the entrance to the
further end, which was not more than two feet wide. The ditch
was of a circular form, but did not bend much for the first ten
yards. The banks of the lake on each side of the ditch were kept
clear of weeds and close herbage, in order that the ducks might
get on them to sit and dress themselves. Along the ditch, poles
were driven into the ground close to the edge on each side, and
the tops were bent over across the ditch and tied together. The
poles then bent forward at the entrance to the ditch, and formed
an arch, the top of which was tea feet distant from the surface
of the water; the arch was made to decrease in height as the
ditch decreased in width, so that the remote end was not more
than eighteen inches in height. The poles were placed about six
feet from each other, and connected by poles laid lengthwise
across the arch, and tied together. Over the whole was thrown a
net, which was made fast to a reed fence at the entrance and
nine or ten yards up the ditch, and afterwards strongly pegged
to the ground. At the end of the ditch furthest from the
entrance, was fixed what was called a tunnel-net, of about four
yards in length, of a round form, and kept open by a number of
hoops about eighteen inches in diameter, placed at a small
distance from each other to keep it distended. Supposing the
circular bend of the ditch to be to the right, when one stands
with his back to the lake, then on the left-hand side, a number
of reed fences were constructed, called shootings, for the
purpose of screening the decoy-man from observation, and, in
such a manner, that the fowl in the decoy would not be alarmed
while he was driving those that were in the pipe. These
shootings, which were ten in number, were about four yards in
length and about six feet high. From the end of the last
shooting a person could not see the lake, owing to the bend of
the ditch; and there was then no further occasion for shelter.
Were it not for these shootings, the fowl that remained about
the mouth of the ditch would have been alarmed, if the person
driving the fowl already under the net should have been exposed,
and would have become so shy as entirely to forsake the place."
THE DECOY MAN, DOG, AND DUCKS.--"The first thing the decoy-man
did, on approaching the ditch, was to take a piece of lighted
peat or turf, and to hold it near his mouth, to prevent the
birds from smelling him. He was attended by a dog trained to
render him assistance. He walked very silently about halfway up
the shootings, where a small piece of wood was thrust through
the reed fence, which made an aperture just large enough to
enable him to see if there were any fowl within; if not, he
walked to see if any were about the entrance to the ditch. If
there were, he stopped, made a motion to his dog, and gave him a
piece of cheese to eat, when the dog went directly to a hole
through the reed fence, and the birds immediately flew off the
back into the water. The dog returned along the bank between the
reed fences, and came out to his master at another hole. The man
then gave the dog something more to encourage him, and the dog
repeated his rounds, till the birds were attracted by his
motions, and followed him into the mouth of the ditch--an
operation which was called 'working them.' The man now retreated
further back, working the dog at different holes, until the
ducks were sufficiently under the net. He then commanded his dog
to lie down under the fence, and going himself forward to the
end of the ditch next the lake, he took off his hat, and gave it
a wave between the shootings. All the birds that were under the
net could then see him, but none that were in the lake could.
The former flew forward, and the man then ran to the next
shooting, and waved his hat, and so on, driving them along until
they came into the tunnel-net, into which they crept. When they
were all in, the man gave the net a twist, so as to prevent them
getting back. He then took the net off from the end of the
ditch, and taking out, one by one, the ducks that were in it,
dislocated their necks."
BOILED FOWLS OR CHICKENS.
[Illustration: BOILED FOWL.]