SHELBURNE, VT.- Decoys operate under the same principles as the old proverb “Birds of a feather flock together,” by luring unsuspecting wildfowl into shooting range. Using artificial birds as bait has a long history in North America, dating back to early Native Americans of the Southwest, who used thatched reed effigies and stuffed bird skins to hunt. Over time European settlers established a carving tradition of perfectly chiseled bodies and realistically painted plumage. By the mid-19th century increased consumer demand for wildfowl meat and feathers led to unregulated market gunning, hunting many species to the brink of extinction. In 1918 the United States Congress enacted The Migratory Bird Act to protect America’s endangered wildfowl, regulating the species and number of birds that could be hunted, effectively bringing the golden era of decoys to an end.
Shelburne Museum’s collection of more than 1,000 working and decorative decoys is considered among the best in the country, with examples by A. Elmer Crowell, Albert Laing, Shang Wheeler, and the Ward brothers, among others. Acquired in 1952, the Joel Barber collection of wildfowl decoys formed the nucleus of Shelburne’s holdings. An architect by trade, Barber was one of first collectors and scholars to identify decoys as an important American art form. He published his collection in his seminal book Wildfowl Decoys (1934), which he illustrated with his own watercolor paintings. Barber’s collection of “American floating sculpture” includes more than 400 outstanding decoys collected over a period of thirty-five years. The acquisition of the Barber collection inspired major important decoy collectors Richard H. Moeller and Edward H. Mulliken to bequeath their collections to the Museum.
Confidence Decoys
In essence all decoys are designed to instill confidence in naturally apprehensive migratory birds. However, decoys carved to mimic bird species that were not hunted for sport or sustenance such as egrets, herons, gulls, loons, and swans were commonly known as “confidence” birds because they were designed to create the illusion of a safe and biologically diverse environment, a suitable layover for migrating flocks.
Aside from being one of the most influential members of the Stratford school of decoy carving, Charles “Shang” Wheeler was a devoted conservationist who as a two-term member of the Connecticut House of Representatives helped pass groundbreaking antipollution and wildlife preservation legislation. Wheeler applied his love and appreciation of nature to his intricately detailed duck decoys. Painted in his characteristic combed feather technique, this mallard drake took the Grand Prize at the Bellport Long Island Decoy Show in 1923. Relatively unknown outside the Stratford region, Wheeler’s win came as a surprise to the attendees of the event, which was organized by a group of fellow conservationists known as the Anti-Duskers.
America’s best decoy carvers were themselves hunters and naturalists who used their intimate knowledge of wildfowl anatomy and behavior to create realistic portrayals of game birds. Considered to be one of the best American decoy carvers, A. Elmer Crowell began his lifelong love affair with wildfowl hunting at the young age of 12 when he received his first shotgun. By age 14 Crowell was using both live and wooden decoys to hunt. As well as working as a decoy handler, guide, and market gunner, he managed a gunning camp in Beverly, Massachusetts for a decade.
Crowell translated his knowledge of birds gained throughout his career into life-like decoys, blurring the lines between artifice and realism. Crowell made three grades of wildfowl decoys, which included lower-grade working ducks and the highest quality decorative birds like Shelburne’s preening Black Duck ca. 1920.
The number and diversity of shorebird decoys in Shelburne’s collection testify to their deadly efficacy and the past popularity of hunting the small, stilted birds they portray. A breed of their own, shorebird decoys, also known as “stick-ups,” consist of small carved block bodies on tall wooden dowels that would be shoved into the sand. From the 1860s until the end of World War I, plovers, curlews, and other shorebirds were the victims of unregulated market gunning. Aided by the invention of the quick loading breech shotgun in the 1870s, market gunners who supplied fresh game to urban butchers’ shops and restaurants were responsible for hunting many of North America’s forty-nine species of shorebirds to the brink of extinction. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 was the first major legislation passed by the United States Congress to regulate and protect endangered wildfowl.
One of a gaggle of five Canada geese decoys made by Captain Charles Osgood. Legend has it that Captain Charles Osgood carved this gaggle of five geese over the course of several months while waiting for cargo to be loaded onto his ship, which was docked in San Francisco Harbor. The bodies of the geese are hollow and consist of three pieces. Their heads are detachable and secured in place by an interlocking brass plate tenoned by a small brass pin.
Commonly called the “The Crown Jewel of North Carolina,” this ruddy duck was carved by twin brothers Lee and Lem Dudley and is considered to be one of the best examples of their characteristic curvaceous style. Although the ruddy duck is found throughout the eastern seaboard, decoys depicting the comical birds are extremely rare. Unlike most decoy makers, who utilized stock bodies with species specific heads, the Dudley brothers carved the bodies of their decoys to resemble the physical characteristics of that bird.
This ruddy duck is branded “LD” for both Lee and Lem Dudley on the dead rise, or bottom center of the decoy. Many scholars postulate that the Dudleys branded the decoys with their initials not as a maker’s mark but to identify the birds they used in their personal rig.
Although once a delicacy fit for European kings and queens, swan was considered inedible by most Americans. However, young cygnets, which were susceptible to the attraction of adult swan decoys, were hunted for their tender succulent meat.
It has been suggested that this swan decoy has “probably been seen by more people, either in photographs or in actuality, than any other American decoy.” Since Joel Barber discovered it being used as a lawn ornament in front of a grape arbor, this decoy has been featured in exhibitions around the country and the world when it was shown at the Brussels Universal and International Exposition in 1958.
During their resting time, decoys were brought to the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington to be x-rayed. Some of those x-rays may be displayed in the exhibition.
