Their constuction, management, and history.
The Book of Duck Decoys Their constuction, management, and history.
John van Voorst, 1886.
First edition. Quarto. Petrol blue cloth, gilt titles, stamped motif to top and bottom of boards. Fourteen colour lithograph plates, one folding one double, inc. frontis. Many black and white illustrations. A fine copy, exceptionally bright and crisp.
The sole edition of this astonishing account of the decoy method of trapping large numbers of wildfowl for commercial purposes. The modern concept of the decoy as an artificial bird employed to lure wild birds within shooting range plays no part in this activity, which involves a wide ditch built from the edge of a pond and covered with arched netting. Wildfowl would be induced in various ways to enter the decoy; then the entrance would be closed and the trapped birds killed at leisure. Profitably practiced for many years in Great Britain and on the continent, the activity was moribund by the time Payne-Gallwey produced this history,in which he lists and describes every decoy he could locate. The marvellous colour plates depict the process of luring and trapping the wildfowl, as well as many designs for such structures.
Schwerdt IV p.74; Wood - Vertebrate Zoology p.514
Stock ID: 46897
