The modern Call duck is the smallest breed of domestic duck, weighing only 1-1½lbs. The original Call ducks were literally developed as calling ducks, to call down the wild mallard to the great traps or decoys of the marshes. They were first known as the decoy duck, the name coming from the Dutch word 'de kooi' meaning ‘trap or cage'.
The idea of the Decoy (de Kooi) duck and the pipe or decoy trap was pioneered on the continent in Flanders. The oldest surviving decoy was built in 1318 in East Flanders at Castle Marnix de Sainte-Aldegonde, Bornem, and is still in existence today (1).
The traps were known as eendekooi in Holland (meaning duck cage). De kooi, or eendekooi became ‘decoy’ in English and the name was applied to the tame ducks which entrapped the wildfowl.
