q C New York State Callege of Agriculture At Gornell University Bthaca, N. B. Library ur wild fowl and waders, Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http:/Awww.archive.org/details/cu31924000101539 OUR WILD FOWL AND WADERS BY DWIGHT W. HUNTINGTON (Author of Our Feathered Game; Our Big Game, and Editor of The Amateur Sportsman.) WITH TWENTY-FOUR FULL PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS AND A MAP OF THE WILD DUCKS’ BREEDING GROUNDS THE AMATEUR SPORTSMAN CO. 18-20 East 42d Street NEW YORK COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY THE AMATEUR SPORTSMAN CO. Published, December, 1910 Be CHARLES F, BLOOM PRESS 180-182 WILLIAM S&T. NEW YORK VI. VII. XITI. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION DUCKS, GEESE AND SWANS WILD DUCKS FOR SPORT AND PROFIT HOW TO MAKE A WILD DUCK PRE- SERVE SAFE AND ATTRACTIVE WHEN AND WHERE TO PROCURE, STOCK BIRDS AND EGGS—ENG- LISH AND AMERICAN GAME FARMS . . NATURAL FOODS OF WILD DUCKS ARTIFICIAL REARING OF WILD DUCKS YOUNG DUCKS ON REARING FIELD YOUNG DUCKS ON THE POND. THE NATURAL ENEMIES OF GAME WINGED ENEMIES OF WILD FOWL THE GROUND AND WATER ENE- MIES OF WILD FOWL AMERICAN DUCK CLUBS . iii 88 97 iv XIV. XV. XVI. XVII. XVIII. XIX. XX. CONTENTS TO FORM A DUCK CLUB, OR SYN- DICATE . THE RESTORATION OF WILD FOWL — LURING DUCKS AND GEESE WILD DUCK SHOOTING ON PRE- SERVES DISEASES OF WILD DUCKS .. WILD GEESE . im. THE SHOREBIRDS OR WADERS REMEDIAL APPENDIX (1) The Distribution and Migration of Wild Fow! . (2) A Proposed Law for Breeders of Game 105 114 120 128 133 156 ‘156 161 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PoRTRAIT OF AUTHOR . : é 2 Frontispiece Facing Page| MALLARDS IN AUGUST . : ‘ Fi A . vi THE Ducks’ PARADISE—MapP . ‘ , ‘ ‘ : 2 YouNG MALLARDS GOING TO FEEDING GROUNDS. 5 10 A LAKE FULL or Ducks a : : ; ss : . 14 BLUEBILLS SUNNING . F ‘ : ‘ ‘ . 16 HATCHED IN CONNECTICUT . 2 . 16 YouNG MALLARDS ON A NEW JERSEY PRESERVE . . 24 WALLACE EVANS’ GAME FARM ss. : : ‘ : . 80 MALLARDS FLUSHED ON REARING GROUND. : : . 50 INTERIOR HATCHING HOUSE . ; : ‘ z . 52 Younc Ducks INCUBATED BY Tienmene IN New York . 56 DINNER TIME : , ‘ A . 62 AFTER pinnae voune ere Herne To LAKE . 66 Ducks aT LAKE WorTH - _ f ‘ 68 PIN-TAIL EGcs : : e . 70 WiLp Ducks IN CEnmiat PARK, Naw YorkK : , . 10 EGG-STEALING CROW. ‘ ‘ 3 : . 80 DECOY OWL . ‘ : . 82 Goop Bac or Crows Sc Gime A Hiecoy OwL . ; . 86 hot 4 A SCARE-FOx ; : i ; : ; . 88 ' \ BLUEBILL SHOT AND PHOTOGRAPHED BY BONNYCASTLE DALE 98 , GAMEKEEPER’ S COTTAGE ON AN AMERICAN PRESERVE . . 106 A MARKET GUNNER. P 5 F 3 . 126 Wit GEESE IN CENTRAL PARK, New York : . . 184 | Woopcock . : ‘ : A : 3 . 146 ENGLISH WILD FOWLER i : , ‘ , : . 156 PIN-TAILS . : 4 : : : . ‘ . 160 UND SAadseyouvy oy} JaAQ Wey sMolA i0yINy oq, LSNSAV NI SGUVTIVN I INTRODUCTION HIS is the first book written for American readers. on the practical conservation of game. It deals with the methods of propagation and preservation which are essential to make game abundant and to keep it plen- tiful in places where field sports are permitted. It is entirely different in plan and purpose from my earlier books. All of the American works on field sports describe the various methods of pursuit and destruction; although they contain, usually, something about the habitat, breeding and food habits, and migration of game, they are silent about the practical and profitable methods of increasing its numbers. The same may be said about our ornithologies and books on natural history. The writers often deplore the fact that the game birds are vanishing; they have insisted upon the enactment of many laws restricting sport, but they overlook the fact that such laws prevent the increase of game by breeders. There is a disposition throughout the country to remedy this mistake, and the game laws have been amended in some States so as to encourage the profitable breeding of game. Elliot, referring to the incessant persecution of the 2 INTRODUCTION birds, ‘in his “Wild Fowl of North America,” says: “Al- though it is apparent to all save those who will not see, that only a brief period can elapse, if the same conditions continue, before, like the buffalo, our water fowl will mostly disappear, yet little is done to save them from destruction, and the ruthless slaughter goes gaily on.” There can be no doubt that laws restricting and even prohibiting sport are necessary in places where no one looks after the game properly. Such laws have delayed, somewhat, the extirpation of the game, but the fact re- mains that many species have not increased in numbers or even held their own in populous regions since the en- actment of the restrictive laws, and no one can claim that such legislation will restore our indigenous wild food birds or keep them abundant in our markets. One reason is that the laws cannot be properly executed. The area to be policed is too big. Mr. L. T. Carleton, of Maine, one of the best State game officers, has well said that the entire State militia would be inadequate to properly pro- tect the game. But even if it were possible to execute the game laws, there are good reasons why they would not save the wild fowl. In settled regions the nesting and feeding grounds of the ducks have been destroyed, and in the Far North the marshes are now being drained. One of the chief causes for the decrease in the num- bers of our wild ducks is undoubtedly the draining of the marshes and the destruction of their breeding and feed- ing grounds.. Nearly all of the desirable ducks which are shot in the United States east of the Rocky Moun- tains are bred in a comparatively small area, which may be described roughly as including parts of Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota and parts of the Canadian \ AN Present Line pare Soa , t <= Yr With Guctus Parador. UW Darr UL bree Uadleded Be AcethkdA Cyne - + -- WW + pasa Ton. nat dareles BoP Ae DET ee LOS eA Wr nalivet tordilios st Ans Area arm toner ginny papules . Pe marches an be Avacnat.. Chis, beta Wirerefacg, 2 pane Cae ae ee i eG ee ee ee. A few . Gi bre clone Grn tx banded Sontheworh Oy wedeeatr tnx bogs -—: INTRODUCTION 3 Provinces, north of North Dakota, and as far west as Alberta. This region has been named “the ducks’ paradise.” Millions of ducks are hatched in this region, although their numbers have decreased much and the breeding area has been much reduced, especially within the United States. Mr. Wells W. Cooke, of the United States Biological Survey, an authority on the migration of birds, says: “The prairie districts of Central Canada, comprising large portions of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, are ‘the ducks’ paradise.’ Within the United States this favored region extends to the North Eastern part of Montana, the Northern half of North Dakota and the North Western corner of Minnesota. The whole vast region is crowded with lakes, ponds, sloughs and marshes that furnish ideal nesting conditions and un- limited food. Forty years ago every available nook was crowded with water fowl, and the whole region, 200 miles wide by 400 miles in length, was a great breeding colony and numbered its inhabitants by the hundreds of thousands.” The building of the Northern Pacific Railway across the Southern boundary of “the ducks’ paradise” was followed by the building of the Canadian Pacific Rail- way through the center of it, and, as Mr. Cooke well says, it is evident that in the United States and Southern Can- ada in a few years there will be no great breeding colo- nies of the ducks most valued for sport and for the table. Edmonton, Alberta, a growing city of over 20,000 in- habitants, is about in the center of the breeding ground for canvas backs and other desirable ducks, and other 4 INTRODUCTION cities and towns in the paradise are increasing in popula- tion rapidly. This matter is of the utmost importance to all duck shooters East of the Rocky Mountains, since the ducks which are shot throughout this portion of the United , States must come, for the most part, from the breeding grounds above described. The duck clubs in the Mis- sissippi valley and about the great lakes and on the At- lantic coast, from New Jersey to Florida, should be much interested in the preservation of “the ducks’ paradise,” since when this is destroyed the shooting on the club marshes will be sadly lessened and the splendid proper- ties of the clubs must decrease in value accordingly. How to prevent the destruction of the breeding grounds is one of the most important problems for the duck shooters. Some big’ parks or refuges for ducks should be established in this region, and the inhabitants should be taught to save some of the breeding grounds, which they own, because it will pay better to do so than to drain them. It is evident that laws prohibiting the shoot- ing on certain days of the week and limiting the open season and the size of the bag can only delay the extir- pation of the ducks; they do not govern the most im- portant matter—the preservation of the breeding grounds. This can only be accomplished in the ways I have pointed out. We should remember, always, that restrictive laws of the character just mentioned make it not worth while for the land owners to save the marshes and the fowl. No one can be expected to do anything which does not pay. The wild ducks which migrate up and down the Pa- cific coast are hatched, for the most part, North of the INTRODUCTION fs) United States as far North as Alaska. Parks, or breed- ing reservations, in the Western ducks’ paradise should be created, where the birds can find safe nesting places for all time to come, Individuals and clubs should rear many of the most desirable ducks locally, so that they can have excellent shooting before the migratory ducks arrive from the North. The markets in this way should be kept full of wild ducks during a long open season at prices surpris- ingly small. No game can survive when its breeding places are de- stroyed, unless other breeding places are provided, no matter how many laws may be made for its protection. The time has arrived to encourage the propagation of game and to make it worth while to preserve suitable places for its profitable increase. It was only a few years ago that the discovery was made in England that the wild duck could be preserved and made abundant for sport and for profit by the hand- rearing process, which was known to work well with pheasants and other game. Prior to this important dis- covery every one thought that the wild duck was too wild to be handled successfully and that any attempt to preserve ‘it would result in producing sport for others and not for those who reared the ducks. Some simple experiments, however, made by gamekeepers proved the contrary to be true, and in a very few years after the experiments were made nearly every small water in Eng- land had its wild ducks. Scores of English wild duck farmers now make a good living by selling their ducks and eggs. Many individuals and clubs, or syndicates, as they say in England, also rear thousands of ducks for 6 INTRODUCTION sport, many of which are sent to market, and the English wild fowlers, or market gunners, are busy on the public waters for six months in the year with no fear of extir- pating the game. - More than ten thousand ducks were reared in a season at Netherby Hall, and the skilled gamekeeper who achieved this remarkable success proved that big bags of ducks can be shot safely every season. The late Rutherford Stuyvesant introduced the new sport to America, and he was fortunate in securing the services of George Edgar, the keeper who had made the wild fowl abundant at Netherby. Ducks and eggs were imported from England and within the year, after the start was made, several thousand mallards and other fowl were reared about some artificial ponds on the Stuyvesant farm in New Jersey. Those who were invited to shoot were enthusiastic in praising the new sport. In addition to the birds which were shot, the game- keeper produced many ducks and eggs which were sold to other duck rearers in New York and New Jersey and as far south as Virginia. Wild ducks are now reared on many game farms and afford splendid sport to many guns. Upon the untimely death of Mr. Stuyvesant, Mr. Edgar went to another country place in New Jersey, whose owner had purchased some of his ducks and eggs, and although the season was late when he started, he suc- ceeded in rearing this year several thousand mallards, besides a big lot of pheasants and a few guinea hens, which, by the way, fly nicely and soon may be added to our game bird list. INTRODUCTION 7 I have made some experiments with several species of wild ducks by which I ascertained that it is an easy matter to increase their numbers in places where they are properly looked after. Often I have visited Mr. Edgar and other gamekeepers in order to study their methods of breeding wild fowl, and much of the material for this book was procured on American game farms and preserves. I am indebted also to the writers of the English books, to whom I have given credit, and to the writers of nu- merous articles which have appeared from time to time in the English magazines since the discovery was made that the wild fowl can be preserved. The breeding of wild ducks should interest the farmers as well as the sports- men, since many small swamps and. waste places can be utilized for profit as well as for sport. Many species of ducks are excellent. food, and I have no hesitation in predicting that the best wild ducks soon will be abundant and cheap in our markets. The sportsmen who are will- ing to do something practical should have excellent shooting during a long open season, and it is evident that those who do nothing will be benefitted when the game becomes plentiful, since the game overflows from all places where it is abundant. Although the shore birds, or waders, do not lend them- selves to the gamekeepers’ art of hand-rearing, they have been found to respond nicely to the protection given to the ducks, and they increase in numbers rapidly when safe nesting and feeding places are provided for them. I have observed the woodcock, snipe, and other waders breeding abundantly on duck preserves where game- keepers are employed to control the natural enemies of 8 INTRODUCTION game, and those who undertake to preserve the wild duck will do well to provide suitable nesting and feed- ing places for these desirable food birds and to extend to them the same practical protection from their natural enemies which is given to the ducks. II DUCKS, GEESE AND SWANS HERE are sixty-four species of ducks, geese and swans in North America north of Mexico. All of these birds are described and pictured in my book, “Our Fea- thered Game.” Twenty-four species breed in the United States. Aside from the aesthetic value of the birds many of them are valuable as food and are accordingly legiti- mate objects of pursuit. The ducks are classified by the ornithologists as sea ducks, or divers, and fresh water ducks, or dabblers. Many species of the sea ducks are not very desirable as food on account of the fishy, or sedgy, character of their flesh, but all of the fresh water ducks are palatable and nutritious and well worth preserving. Among the sea ducks, the famous canvas back, the redhead, the two scaups (black heads or bluebills), the golden-eye, buffle head and ruddy duck are the most valuable. The fresh water ducks are the mallard, dusky or black duck, the blue-winged, green-winged and cin- namon teal, the shoveller, widgeon, sprig-tail, gadwall, and wood-duck. . Although the sea ducks nest in some of the Northern States and much can be done in the way of protecting them when breeding wild in places where their natural 9 10 DUCKS, GEESE AND SWANS foods are abundant, they are not so easily domesticated or handled on game preserves as the fresh water ducks are. It may be when game keeping becomes common in the United States that the more valuable species of sea ducks will be hand-reared as the mallards and some of the other fresh water ducks now are. Since the can- vas backs and redheads command high prices in the markets and are highly prized by sportsmen, the game farmer or game preserver who can successfully multiply them will find the industry profitable, and some inter- esting experiments with these birds could be made in Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota and in other States as far west as Oregon and in the Canadian Prov- inces in localities where the wild celery and wapato and other natural foods of these ducks are abundant. Many sea ducks undoubtedly can be induced to nest in a wild state beside safe and attractive waters, and they should increase in numbers rapidly in places where they are properly looked after and where their natural enemies are closely controlled. The mallard undoubtedly is the best duck for the game . preserve where hand-rearing is carried on, and the mal- lards are by far the most abundant of all fowl on the English preserves. The dusky duck, often called the black mallard, has been domesticated in many places in America, and it should be reared on preserves quite as easily as the mallard is. In England the teal, sprig- tail and widgeon have been successfully propagated by gamekeepers, and all of the river ducks can be made abundant, without doubt, on American preserves where gamekeepers are employed. Since the wood-duck nests in trees, suitable nesting places should be provided for CQNO0UD DNIGHGA OL YNIOD SGUVTITIVW DNNOA DUCKS, GEESE AND SWANS 11 them. They have been domesticated in many places and often breed in parks and zoological gardens, and both the ducks and their eggs can be procured from American game farmers. A mixed bag is attractive and desirable, and the game preservers, no doubt, will successfully rear most, if not all, of the fresh water ducks when game preserving be- comes common. The English teal, which has been suc- cessfully bred on preserves, and some of the other Eng- lish ducks probably can be introduced to advantage and made abundant on American game farms and preserves. Many English game farmers have both the birds and their eggs for sale in large numbers. The wild geese for the most part breed in the far North, and it seems doubtful if many species could be handled on the preserves in the United States. The Canada, or common wild goose, has been domesticated in many of the States, and undoubtedly it can be reared in large numbers on many preserves and game farms for sport and for profit. Mr. Whealton, of Chincoteague Island, Virginia, is a very successful breeder of Canada geese and can supply birds and eggs in large numbers. The swans are very ornamental birds and often are seen in parks and zoological gardens, but it seems doubt- ful if they ever will be bred for sport on the preserves. My own experiments with wild ducks were confined to the mallards and dusky ducks, but I have seen several other species breeding on game farms and preserves in America. The methods of making the breeding grounds safe and attractive and of controlling the natural ene- mies of the wild ducks, which are described in the fol- lowing pages, are applicable to all species of ducks which 12 DUCKS, GEESE AND SWANS nest in a wild state on preserves. The hand-rearing or artificial propagation of ducks, which is fully described, has been found to increase the numbers of the mallards far more rapidly than they. are increased when the birds nest in a wild state, and there seems to be no good rea- son why many of the other ducks should not be success- fully hand-reared. The game preserver can undertake many interesting experiments, and I have no doubt it will not be long before many species of ducks will be multiplied by hand-rearing, which consists in stealing the eggs from the ducks as they are laid and of hatching them under barnyard hens or in incubators and in feed- ing the young ducks until they are eight or nine weeks old, when they are turned down on the pond or lake. All birds are comparatively tame during the nesting season. There is a record of a ptarmigan being taken from its nest on a mountain top in Colorado and handled* without causing it to desert the nest. Many birds, how- ever, will cease laying and desert their nests when their eggs are removed, and until the species of ducks which thus far have not been hand-reared can be induced to’ continue laying when their eggs are stolen, artificial rearing, of course, is impossible, and they can only be bred naturally. As I have suggested, there is an inter- esting field for experiment with many species which at present are not hand-reared in captivity on preserves. It is well known that all game thrives best in localities where it breeds (or formerly bred) naturally in a wild state and that birds which are introduced to new regions often. do not do well. A knowledge of the breeding range of the wild ducks is important, therefore, and a full account of the range of all of the species which are DUCKS, GEESE AND SWANS 13 worth preserving for food and for sport will be found in the appendix. Many species which now breed rarely or not at all in many States once were abundant during the nesting season. The breeding range extended much farther South than it does. Only a few years ago I saw many wild ducks breeding abundantly in the Dakotas, Mon- tana and elsewhere in places where they no longer occur. They have been driven away by incessant per- secution and by the draining of the marshes, but easily they can be restored and kept abundant in many places, provided, always, their nesting and feeding grounds be made safe and attractive. III WILD DUCKS FOR SPORT AND PROFIT T is quite as easy to have wild ducks as it is to have tame ones. The wild birds are far more interesting than domesticated ducks are, and in many places they should be much less expensive to rear since they will procure a good part of their food about the margins of the ponds and in the woods and fields. As ornaments for country places, the alert and handsome wild ducks, which spring into the air from land or water with such great rapidity that the fastest cameras cannot picture them without a blur and which fly about on swift wings, often at great heights, delight the eye and charm the observer, even if he be not interested in the double bar- relled gun. The domesticated duck, which cannot use its wings and cannot run or even walk gracefully, in no way can be compared with the trim and alert mallard, teal, widgeon, the beautiful wood-duck, and many other hand- some wild fowl which are indigenous to North America. As objects of sport wild ducks are highly regarded by gunners, and the rearing of these splendid wild food birds can be made profitable under the rational laws permitting such industry which recently have been en- acted in some of the States and which soon will be en-. 1“ AVSIOL MON UL dATOSeTG V UO MOTA sSmond dO ITNT ANVI V WILD DUCKS FOR'SPORT AND PROFIT 15 acted everywhere in America. It is less than a score of years since wild ducks first were artificially reared in England, and the older country has, therefore, only a short lead, so far as wild ducks are concerned. American enterprise can be relied upon to overtake her. The ponds and marshes which are suitable for wild fowl are far more numerous and extensive and far less expensive in America than similar places are in England; the proper- ties used for duck rearing in America can be larger than ithey are abroad, and a greater number of wild ducks can be reared in a wild state by simply protecting the nesting birds from their natural enemies and trespassers and from stray dogs and cats, which are said to do more damage than foxes and hawks. Much worthless land, partly covered by water, can be made profitable by the restoration of the wild fowl, and the countless lakes and ponds throughout the United States and British Provinces, which are now desolate, can be adorned with this charming form of wild life. Some of the most intelligent State game officers have given this subject their attention, and many individuals and clubs already have begun the good work of restora- tion and propagation. Many game farmers in England produce thousands of wild ducks and eggs every season, and'a number of game farms have been started in America, some of which can fill large orders for both birds and eggs. Some of the duck breeders wrote last season (1909) that they sold all the ducks they produced at satisfactory prices. The mallards and some of the more common species of ducks sold at $3 and $4 per pair, and the wood-duck sold for $15 per pair, and in some places these birds brought even higher prices. The eggs of the 16 WILD DUCKS FOR SPORT AND PROFIT mallard and black duck brought $3 per dozen, and the eggs of other species brought $6 per dozen and possibly more. The number of sportsmen who are engaged in propa- gating wild fowl for sport has increased rapidly since the discovery was made that wild ducks can be controlled within reasonable bounds. My experiments with wild ducks, which will be re- ferred.to later, proved that it is a very easy matter to multiply these beautiful and interesting birds and that they will not desert provided they be properly handled. The rapid decrease in the numbers of our American game birds long has attracted the attention of sports- men and naturalists. All now realize that we must create before we can safely destroy game, or at least we must control the natural enemies of game and in this way make a safe place for our shooting.. Long ago I pointed out the necessity for individual action if we would restore our game and make it again plentiful in our markets. The United States Department of Agriculture in a recent bulletin on “Deer Farming” referred to the necessity for individual action, and the people are learning the reason why the game vanishes and what should be done to make it abundant and cheap. Herbert K. Job, who has made many remarkable photo- graphs of wild ducks and their nests, writing for The Amateur Sportsman, said: “To one who is fond of water fowl it is a real grievance and aggravation to scan with longing eyes the waters of almost any pond or lake in our Eastern districts, however retired the locality, and, ordinarily, see not a solitary duck or web-footed bird floating on the surface. If, indeed, even a solitary duck “Ft BLUEBILLS SUNNING Photograph by Bonnycastle Dale HATCHED IN CONNECTICUT Egg From Saskatchewan—Photograph by H. K. Job WILD DUCKS FOR SPORT AND PROFIT 17 should be so rash as to exhibit itself in this fashion, the whole neighborhood would rise in arms to kill it or chase it away. What few ducks there are hide in the swamps and venture into the ponds only at dusk and during the night.’”* Having described a flock of ducks, containing many of the best species, which he observed near the Harvard bridge, between Boston and Cambridge, and which were perfectly at their ease, because they knew they were in a safe place, Mr. Job says: “There is no earthly reason, especially in regions where wild fowl are somewhat nu- merous, why this sort of thing might not become a regular and normal condition, to the manifold delight of the land owner and the public at large.” All that is necessary to bring about such desirable com \, ditions is for the people to learn how and where they can have wild ducks in abundance as ornaments or for sport 7 or for profit and that it will pay them in more ways than , one to look after the fowl properly. / The Rev. Adrian Woodruffe-Peacock, in a lecture on “Wild Duck Breeding for Sport,” published in The Shoot- ing Times and British Sportsman (Dec. 8, 1906), says: “It is not of day dreams in the crowded city or railway carriage that I am now going to speak, but of simple, and at the same time practical, facts, which any land owner or businesslike keeper who has at command a lake, pond or slow flowing stream can turn to profit in increasing the sport which the acres in his possession will supply. Wild duck breeding and training for shooting purposes are quite simple matters—there are no mysteries in the un- dertaking. It is, indeed, so easy that the wonder is that *The Amateur Sportsman, March, 1909. 18 WILD DUCKS FOR SPORT AND PROFIT it has not extended long ago far and wide over every sporting estate in the kingdom. There are many spots which by nature are only indifferent situations for pheas- ant and partridge cultivation, that are yet admirably suited for the production of ‘high flying wild fowl.’ “As a matter of fact, I have never been resident in a country village where there was a fair supply of water— even when only a small beck, or brook—without finding the wild duck breeding. In my earliest days, too, when from association my attention was especially drawn to them in the Trent Valley, I do not remember a farm yard collection of ducks which was not visited by ‘wild flying’ drakes from the decoy.* The domestic and wild forms were so frequently crossed in the neighborhood of my home that ‘tame fliers’-—namely, halfbred wild ducks, which fly away with their cousins—were a frequent _source of annoyance and loss at Ashby Decoy. It is with some confidence, then, that I can speak of the wild duck *A decoy is simply a piece of water of a certain size, from which radi- ate shallow, curving channels spanned by crescent shaped supports. The supports sustain net, forming a tunnel, known as a pipe. The num- ber of pipes may be from one to a dozen or so, according to the size of the water. The Wrentham decoy, in Norfolk, has ten pipes, a larger Dumber than that possessed by any other active decoy in the Eastern Counties, if not in our islands. Iron supports, their ends firmly em- bedded in the soil on either side of the channel, are used at the mouth of the pipe and for some distance down, and saplings as the channel narrows. The supports are placed at intervals of about five feet. These arches are usually about twelve feet high and twenty feet wide at the mouth of the pipe. They become smaller and smaller, till at the end of the pipe they are found to be only two feet high; thus when the whole structure is covered with net we have a gradually narrowing and curv- ing pipe, the course of which cannot be seen by the duck till their re- treat is cut off. At the end of the pipe is a detachable bag shaped net, known as a tunnel net. The length of a pipe is usually about seventy yards. On the bank of the decoy, and for some way down the convex side of the pipe, are screens, six feet high, and covered with rushes, so arranged in echelon that the decoyman can pursue his tactics without being seen by the birds on the water, and yet can show himself, or WILD DUCKS FOR SPORT AND PROFIT 19 and record a forty years’ remembrance of its ways and doings. ILIA “Provided you have water, and trees for shelter, and the fowl are undisturbed by shooting or constant flush- ing, there is no place so noisy, or so frequented by man, in which the true wild duck will not breed. In the lake of . the city park, in the ballast pit by the ever roaring rail- way junction, close by the reverberating boiler works, | where riveting hammers—or Nasmyth’s ponderous ma-_ chinery—are at work, where human scent is wafted to, them at every breeze, wild fowl nest and rear their young in peace. It is not the presence of humanity that wild fowl object to—it is to constant, inquisitive interference, or shooting. Any place near water is good enogh for) them where they are left alone for feeding and breeding. | Decoy men are quite right in keeping their waters as se- cluded and quiet as possible, for the best of reasons. Their native birds gather ‘foreigners’ into their pond every night, and the slightest unusual sound or human allow his dog to show itself, at any point. The tall screens are usually connected by low ones, over which the dog, commonly known as a “piper,” is able to jump without difficulty. . . . Ducks are enticed into the pipes either by means of decoy birds or by the antics of a dog, care- fully trained for the work. . . . At last all the lagging fowl of the gathering have entered the pipe. Then, without a sound, the decoy- man darts back to the mouth of the pipe, where, unseen by other bunches of duck on the decoy, he suddenly shows himself to the birds under the net. At the sight of him and his waving handkerchief the trapped birds rise in a cloud and fly up the narrowing pipe. The decoyman, on the bank, follows them at headlong speed. A few moments later he is engaged in extracting his victims, one by one, from the tunnel net and wringing their necks.—“Wild Fowl.”; L. H. De Visme Shaw, p. 116. A large number of these decoys are operated in England, Wales and Ireland, and many wild ducks are procured for the market. The first decoy was set up in the reign of James II. “The Land of the Broads,” cited by Shaw. Decoying was practiced in Holland prior to the time of Sir William Wodehouse, who constructed the first DBnglish decoy. 15,000 fowl have been taken in a decoy in a season.—De Visme Shaw. “Wild Fowl,” p. 121. 20 WILD DUCKS FOR SPORT AND PROFIT aroma sends these strangers to human presence winging their way to discover more secure abodes. Breeding for the gun is altogether another matter; the producer relies on his own stock of birds, and not on the nightly supply of truly wild ones, which are the decoyman’s daily profit. “The ideal spot for wild duck breeding is, no doubt, a hilly country more or less covered with woods, and in them lakes, or lakelets, supplied by perennial burns to keep the water fresh and to bring down a supply of food, ‘such as the Ferintosh part of the Culladen estate, near ‘Dingwall, in Ross-shire. With lakes half a mile apart in a circle amid the hills the finest sport imaginable can be ‘obtained. The fowl can be driven, or trained to fly, from lake to lake, and give the best sporting shots to hidden . guns lying in wait. The owner of one lake or large pond need not despair; he can have his shoot, too, in its way as good, and even more certain than that of his luckier neighbor with many waters. When birds are merely . driven from lake to lake over guns, the sport is more like flight shooting, as followed by the sea coast, and, in con- sequence, has also much of its uncertainties. At its very best it can hardly be better when the mere quality of the shooting obtained is considered, without regard to the circumstances of its production, than when the ducks are sent in threes and fours, as they are let out of a cage ona hillside over the guns, to a lake or pond beyond them. Failing a hillside, a line of trees, or nets supported on wires by poles, are nearly as good in giving high flight and speed. “The mallard* most frequently, in a perfectly wild *Decoymen make a useful distinction in classing their take of fowl. The male bird, or drake, is “the mallard,” the female always “the duck.” WILD DUCKS FOR SPORT AND PROFIT 21 state, is a slightly polygamous bird. In pinioned confine- ment it is absolutely polygamous, and one drake will mate with four ducks, or even five, when in full fertility. Wild fowl live to a great age. In 1876 old Tom Tacey showed me a duck in full male plumage—namely, with green-purple head and curled tail feathers—which he had bred thirty-five seasons before. As he said, she was sur- rounded by descendants to the twenty-eighth generation, but had given up all interest in breeding matters long before. ‘I only keep her ’cos she’s the best ’coy duck I have, and her young are the best breed I have.’ So much for pedigree. “Eighteen to twenty years is not an uncommon age for old decoy fowl, but we are not speaking tonight of de- coying. “Breeders for shooting should be careful to use only young and specially fertile stock, selected annually for flying qualities. Additions to the future breeding stock should have been carefully chosen and pinioned before the first battue. “When undisturbed, the wild duck naturally begins sit- ting on her eggs about the beginning of April; but nests with eggs, or little ducklings, may be found every month of the year. This, however, is only the case where the birds are robbed again and again of their complement of eggs, just when incubation is on the point of commenc- ing. It is most rare for the wild duck, in a purely natural state, to be truly double brooded, but I have even known cases of this. Food must abound, and the nesting fowl must have perfect security from the disturbance of their own species, as well as from their natural enemies. Al- most any situation is good enough for a wild duck’s nest, 22 WILD DUCKS FOR SPORT AND PROFIT from a hedge bottom, bushy bankside, a bed of nettles in the open fields, to a deserted crow’s or rook’s nest in the tree tops. Where the birds are much harried by nest seekers, or foxes, they find security on high stacks, pol- lard willows, or, failing these, in the loftiest nests of tree building birds. The problem is to say where the duck will not nest when it suits her purpose; abroad they sometimes occupy the nesting boxes provided for the golden-eyed duck (Clangula glaucion, Linn.) Height is no hindrance to a good mother duck; as soon as her nest- lings are fit for locomotion she carries them to a selected spot in her bill. I saw one doing this as late as Aug. 20, 1902. Where foxes and vermin are over abundant the duck is knowing enough to forsake continuous cover or hedges for an isolated bed of thistles or nettles in the open. In bitter weather, hollow trees are not forgotten, if the opening faces south; and, failing all other suitable spots and old nests, a small depression in the open field is taken advantage of.” IV HOW TO MAKE A WILD DUCK PRESERVE SAFE AND ATTRACTIVE LTHOUGH many wild ducks can be reared in a farmyard where there is no pond, lake or stream, provided they have access to a water trough or pan of water at all times, it is evident that they will do better provided they be reared under more natural surround- ings near a good sized lake, pond, stream or slough. The place selected for a preserve should, if possible, have several waters at some distance from each other, either a number of ponds or a pond and a small stream or slough, since the shooting will be best where the ducks can fly about from one water to another. In England there are some small shoots where there is very little water, but the shooting under such condi- tions is often too artificial to suit our American taste. There can be no doubt that large numbers of duck can be reared and that they will thrive about very small bodies of water, mere puddles in fact, and on one of the largest preserves’ in England, where thousands of ducks are shot annually, the little ponds are artificial. Captain Oates, who owns a small preserve in England, says wild fowl can undoubtedly be reared far from any 23 24 SAFE AND ATTRACTIVE PRESERVES large piece of water, but I am strongly of the opinion that birds do better on a good sized stretch of water with a stream running into it and out of it. Given these advantages, the running water must be constantly bringing a fresh supply of food, especially after a fall of rain sufficiently heavy to cause a rise of water; further, if the stream which runs out of our lake empties itself into a large river the latter will, when it floods or rises, rapidly cause our stream to back up and bring in a further supply of food from the main river. The supply of fresh food is a gratifying source of economy to the grain bill. Mr. L. H. De Visme Shaw, in a book on “Wild Fowl,” says: “The pieces of water one proposes to convert into duck ponds should be as near the middle of the shoot as possible; the distance separating them from each other should preferably be not less than half a mile. The larger they are the better. Their situation must be so far isolated that there is no risk of the birds being disturbed. “There may be a stream running through the shoot, or there may be ponds or springs suitably situated. In the former case dams can be built to hold up a body of water sufficient to last through any spell of drought during which the stream may run dry. The possibility of water giving out during a dry season must always be one of the first considerations, this possibility being obviated by efficient puddling.” I have seen several thousand ducks which were successfully reared about some very small artificial ponds on an American preserve, and I have also seen a good lot of ducks which were reared on a quail preserve, GANGSHYd AUSUAL MON V NO SGUVITVW DNNOK SAFE AND ATTRACTIVE PRESERVES = 25 where a small pond was made for them by. building a very inexpensive dam across a little stream. The big quail preserves in North Carolina easily could produce a large number of fowl about ponds made by damming the small streams. There are hundreds of thousands of likely ponds, sloughs and: marshy streams in America where wild ducks formerly nested, but which have been shot out. The swamps, ponds and sloughs are absolutely worth- less for agricultural purposes until they are drained, with the exception of those where cranberries are grown, and there is room enough in America for every gun to have desirable duck shooting during a long open season at a very small expense, provided the ducks be properly looked after and not driven away as they are now whenever they attempt to nest. : Although the ducks can be introduced easily and made abundant in many localities where they never were known to occur, it is evident that the best place to start a duck ranch or preserve is on or in the vicinity of the ground over which the wild fowl travel during their migrations, since many birds will be attracted by those on the ground and will remain to interbreed with them, provided the place be made safe and attractive. The best place of all is, of course, a place where wild fowl are now nesting in good numbers, and there are hundreds of square miles in the region known as the “ducks’ paradise,” in Canada, where ducks breed every season. One-tenth of this area, if properly preserved, would feed the people of the North American continent with all the ducks they could possibly eat, and, at the same time, the duck shooting throughout the country 26 SAFE AND ATTRACTIVE PRESERVES as far South as Florida would be made better than it ever was, and it would remain so for all time to come. As it is, the breeding grounds are being drained rapidly, since it does not pay to keep them for ducks. Ponds which are shallow and which contain much food in the water and about the shores are more suitable for rearing places for ducks than ponds with rocky or gravelly shores. But even the last named ponds can be made to support a good head of ducks, provided the birds be well fed with grain. I have had inquiries recently from people in New England who contemplated rearing ducks as to the at- titude of the wild ducks towards trout and other desir- able game fishes. Since the ponds where it was pro- posed to introduce the ducks are fully stocked with trout, their owners did not wish to add the ducks if these would put an end to their trout fishing. They were anglers, and the duck shooting was only a secondary pleasure. My knowledge of the food habits of the more desir- _able river. ducks, which are best suited to the preserve, led me to believe that the ducks would not interfere with or destroy the fishes, especially if the birds could | secure the food they liked best, or if they were fed, as ‘they should be, sufficiently to keep them at home. Not having any positive information on the subject, how- ever, I referred this important matter to the United States Commissioner of Fisheries, who wrote as fol- lows in reply to my communication: “Replying to your letter of April 26, addressed to the As- sistant in Charge, Division of Fish Culture, it is not believed that the number of trout and other game fish consumed by SAFE AND ATTRACTIVE PRESERVES 27 wild ducks amounts to much, but it is not possible to say what damage large flocks of ducks on a preserve, of the kind you advocate, might do if the ponds on the preserve contained an abundance of game fish. “The ducks valued as game (mallard, redhead, ruddy, scaups or bluebills, canvas back, teal, etc.), feed almost entirely on vegetation, along with occasional snails, worms, etc., and on organisms found in mud, and would not feed on fishes to any extent, even when other feed was scarce, as they are not adapted to that sort of food. The ‘sawbills,’ or fish ducks, feed on fishes, and so does the hell-diver (grebe or dabchick), which, however, is not a duck at all. The grebes are not numerous enough to do much harm. “As to fishes eating ducks, the pike would commit consider- able devastation where ducklings were available, so would snapping turtles, their worst enemies.”* It is highly important that the place where wild ducks are to be reared, either by hand or in a wild state, pref- erably in both ways, should be safe and attractive. A place may be said to be safe when no intruders are permitted to approach it, either men or the natural and domestic enemies of game, which are discussed in an- other chapter. It is a well known fact that wild ducks are exceedingly fond of certain kinds of food, especially wild rice, wild celery, wapato, a bulb-like root, fox-tail grass, and vari- ous duck weeds and aquatic plants. As stated in the letter of the United States Fish Commissioner, quoted above, the ducks also feed on organisms found in mud, and for this reason muddy ponds are attractive, as all sportsmen know. It is not so generally known, but nevertheless an im- portant fact, that wild ducks need cover, almost if not quite as much as quail, grouse and other true game birds *The Amateur Sportsman. 28 SAFE AND ATTRACTIVE PRESERVES do. Sportsmen who have considered this matter are aware that wild ducks are not so often seen on open ponds and waters, where there are no reeds, rushes or bushes about the banks, as they are about waters where suitable cover, in which they can hide, abounds. It is true that there is more food, including insect food, to be found about ponds and streams fringed with wild rice and other grasses and bushes and trees which fur- nish acorns and other foods and that food is the most important matter which causes the wild fowl to visit and remain in any given place, but it also is true that the ducks are€ not well satisfied with a place which has no covers in which they can hide, even if the food be abundant. The wild duck when pursued by a winged enemy will fly into the protecting reeds and rice just as quail seek the briars when they are pursued by their enemies. Since there is abundant cover and much natural food about hundreds of thousands of ponds and streams in America, where ducks can be restored and made abun- dant, the matter does not seem to be of great impor- tance. But there are many ponds (in convenient loca- tions where good duck shooting should be had) which have neither cover nor food, and some artificial ponds can be made on the upland preserves in order to have the additional diversion of duck shooting. It is well, therefore, to know how unattractive waters can be made attractive. Wild rice furnishes both food and cover, and this plant easily can be introduced in many places where it does not now occur. The methods of planting it will be described in the chapter on the natural foods of wild SAFE AND ATTRACTIVE PRESERVES 29 ducks. Cat-tails and many other reeds and rushes and willows and briars planted about the margins of ponds all make desirable covers, and trees which bear mast furnish both shade and food. In England, where much of the preserving is highly artificial, the reeds and rushes are not always regarded as desirable. Mr. De Visme Shaw says: “The great attraction to duck is cover. It gives the birds a sense of security. Mallard—unless kept as tame as farmyard poultry, and not always then—can no more be expected to attach themselves to a bare, open pond than can pheasants be expected to make themselves at home in a locality void of trees and undergrowth. One sees it advised that rushes should be introduced; but, in my own opinion, they are not only unnecessary but undesirable as well; they eventually become a nuisance. “As temporary cover, let stout brushwood be used, and plenty of it. It should be thrown down roughly— half in, half out of the water. Against the brushwood plant strong young brambles or well rooted runners. “Islands which have been made in the pond are also to have brushwood and brambles upon them. On the north side of the pond there should be a gently shelv- ing bank, gravelled if possible, but otherwise given a hard surface, whereon the ducks may sun themselves and where they are to be fed.” Briars planted thickly a short distance from a pond form an effective barrier against intruders, including furry vermin and dogs and cats. The reader has ob- served, no doubt, that ducks often frequent that part of a water which is most difficult to approach. The 30 SAFE-AND ATTRACTIVE PRESERVES birds know well where they are safe. The intruder in forcing his way through heavy cover must make enough noise to warn them of his approach. / One or more small islands in-a pond are especially attractive. They can be made easily in shallow waters and should be planted with willows or bushes to afford shade and cover. A low wire netting, such as is shown in the illustrations of young mallards on the rearing ponds, is used to turn predaceous animals, and traps can be placed to advantage just outside of it. The cost of making the ponds safe and attractive is inconsiderable. The ground suitable for ducks can be purchased or rented cheaply, and where clubs, or syn- dicates, of sportsmen are formed to share the expense of a gamekeeper to properly look after the fowl good shooting can be had at a very low price per gun within the year after the club is formed. Some of the ducks can be trapped and held to insure a breeding stock -for the following season or the birds may be shot closely and a new start made the following season with birds or eggs purchased from a game farmer. If some of the ducks and eggs be sold for propagation or as food they should pay a good part of the cost of production. STOUNIE ‘18d TBO WUYd GNVO SNVAGT AOWTIVM 7 Vv WHEN AND WHERE TO PROCURE STOCK BIRDS AND EGGS—ENGLISH AND AMERICAN GAME FARMS WILD DUCK farm or preserve can be started by purchasing eggs only and hatching them under barnyard hens or in incubators; but it is more interest- ing to start with ducks, and when it is proposed to rear large numbers the first season both eggs and ducks should be purchased. Very quickly after the discovery was made in Eng- land that wild ducks could be reared and controlled on preserves a number of game farms were started, which now furnish hundreds of thousands of ducks and eggs to the sportsmen every year. Mr. Bonnett, who at my suggestion wrote a series of articles on “English Game Preserving” for The Amateur Sportsman, says: “Wild duck shooting became suf- ficiently popular in England to encourage the game farmer to give it his attention, and now there is hardly a game farm in the Kingdom that does not pay some attention to the breeding of wild ducks, both for eggs and for young ducks to be supplied for shooting. A hundred, or even fifty years ago, there would probably 81 32 PROCURING STOCK BIRDS AND EGGS have been little demand in England for wild ducks reared by hand, but the constant reclamation of marsh land and the draining of the fens for agricultural pur- poses has reduced the breeding grounds of the wild birds very considerably, and good wild fowl shooting of a perfectly natural kind is not easy to obtain at the pres- ent time. All the best places are quickly snapped up.” The same condition exists in America. The desirable duck marshes as far West as California are now owned or controlled largely by individuals and by duck clubs, but there are thousands of places where ducks can be introduced and made abundant. Mr. Bonnett mentioned a large number of English game farmers who are en- gaged in rearing wild ducks and stated the prices of the birds and eggs. The price of wild ducks’ eggs from the game farms, he says, is now about £1, 10s. to £2, 10s. per hundred, according to season, or £12 to £20 per thousand. These figures, of course, refer to mallards. The prices for other species are somewhat higher. Mr. Bonnett in concluding his article said: “There would seem to be a big field open for the game farmer in turning his. attention to the rearing of other wild fowl besides the ordinary duck, or mallard. Many other kinds of fowl could doubtless be reared just as easily, and several of them are just as handsome and sporting birds. Among these may be mentioned the beautiful little green runner ducks, the gorgeous shell ducks, the widgeon and the teal as most suitable, but there are several others that might afford sport, notably pintail,* gadwall, shoveller, tufted duck, pochard and scaup. *Captain Oates writes me that pintail and teal have been tried on pre- serves and that they do fairly well. » PROCURING STOCK BIRDS AND EGGS = 33 ‘The industry of game farming is new in America, but already we have a number of these interesting places, some of which are as large as the more important game farms in England. These can supply several species of wild ducks and their eggs and the Canada, or common wild goose, in good numbers and at fair prices. The number of game farms is increasing rapidly since the industry is profitable. One of the largest American game farms in the United States is located at Oak Park, Illinois (near Chicago). Mr. Wallace Evans, the enterprising owner, has given much attention to the rearing of several kinds of wild fowl and can supply thousands of ducks and eggs. In the story of his game farm* Mr. Evans said: “In the race for ‘more game’ America has already distanced England, the land of game farms and preserves. This seems the more remarkable since in England there is far more freedom in the matter of rearing and selling game, as The Amateur Sportsman often has said, than there is in the land of the free.” Mr. Evans said that he would rear during the year 1909 8,000 pheasants, besides wood-duck, mallards and wild geese, mandarins and other water fowl. Wenz & Mackensen have a prosperous game farm at Yardley, Pennsylvania, and this firm also can supply thousands of ducks and eggs. Mr. W. A. Lucas repre- sents the Clifton Game and Forest Society, which has a game farm on Long Island where mallard and black ducks are reared and sold alive for propagation. The Whealton Wild Water Fowl Farms at Chinco-. teague, Virginia, rear thousands of ducks, geese ‘and ~The Amateur Sportsman, September, 1909, p. 12, 34 PROCURING STOCK BIRDS AND EGGS swans. More dusky, or black, ducks are reared on this farm than anywhere in the country. Other game farms are located in Kansas, Missouri and Colorado. The Fair-View Farm on Hudson, Highland, N. Y., also ad- vertise wild ducks. In some States some of the ducks can be sold in the market as food. Besides the game farmers there are now a number of large game preserves in America, some of which can, at times, supply ducks and eggs. The number of game farms and preserves is increas- ing rapidly, notwithstanding the inimical laws which prohibit the sale of game or only permit it during a short open season. The sentiment of the people now is opposed to the arrest of those who are engaged in such industry and in favor of the proposed breeders’ law providing that those who properly look after game and increase it shall have the right to sell it alive for propagation or as food in the markets. There can be no doubt that as soon as this law is enacted in all of the States (it has been in some) America, as I have said, will become the biggest game producing country in the world. The game farms rapidly will increase in num- ber. The rearing methods employed by the game farmers are similar to those described in the chapters on the rearing and handling of wild ducks. Wild fowl have never been regarded as true game within the meaning of the game act in England, and the wild fowlers, or market gunners, always have been permitted to shoot wild ducks for the market on all public waters, saltings, and on many lands about the coasts owned by the Crown. Wild ducks often are PROCURING STOCK BIRDS AND EGGS _35 cheaper in the English markets during a long open sea- son than beef or poultry are. One of the chief merits of field sports and of game preserving is that they tend to keep many people in the country and furnish a de- sirable employment for many gamekeepers. There can be no doubt also that when game preserving is more generally undertaken in America the market gunners can be permitted safely to shoot on our public waters, and there would seem to be a better excuse for this shooting (if any apology for the killing is needed) than there is for the shooting of those who shoot only for sport. Wild ducks’ eggs should be purchased very early in the Spring, when the ducks begin to lay. The orders should be placed in the Autumn or Winter in order to be sure of procuring the desired number. Mallard eggs in America are now sold for about $3 per dozen, or from $20 to $25 per hundred. Although this is about twice as much as the eggs cost in England, I am satisfied that there is no economy in purchasing eggs abroad. Not long ago I purchased a lot of eggs from an English dealer, and, although they were securely packed and none was broken in transit, the percentage which hatched made the young ducks cost more than they would have cost if they had been hatched from Ameri- can eggs. It is fair to say, however, that the eggs were hatched in an incubator, and they may not have been handled just right. The hens should be purchased or rented before the eggs arrive. On some preserves the hens are rented from the farms in the vicinity of the preserve; the rent paid on a Long Island pheasant preserve is 25 cents 36 PROCURING STOCK BIRDS AND EGGS per hen. I believe it is more economical to purchase the hens. Wild ducks for propagation should be purchased in the Autumn or Winter in order that they may become accustomed to their new surroundings; otherwise they may not breed the first year. Birds which have been reared in captivity are more likely to breed than freshly caught wild birds are. I believe it is advisable to purchase the stock ducks from several widely separated dealers, since in this way an admixture of blood from two or more different flocks is secured, and this is known to be desirable in breeding all animals. Mallards and black ducks were sold last season (1909) at from $3 to $3.50 per pair. Sprig-tailed ducks and teal sold for a little more. Wood-duck brought several times as much, but the prices undoubtedly will be lowered as the birds become plentiful in the markets. It seems likely that American game farmers will not be able to supply all the sprig-tails, widgeon, teal, and other fowl needed on the preserves next season, and it might be well for the preserve owners to purchase some English teal and sprig-tailed ducks. These can be procured through the dealers I have mentioned, and they should breed the first season provided they be purchased in the Winter. I expect to make an experiment with these ducks next Spring, and I would strongly advise others to do so, since a mixed bag is desirable. The gamekeepers say it is well to purchase ducks not over two years old, and reliable dealers may be relied on to send the birds ordered. I plucked some of the feathers from one wing of the PROCURING STOCK BIRDS AND EGGS 37 ducks with which I made some experiments, and I pre- fer this method of confining them to pinioning, since the birds can fly later when the wing feathers grow in again. I was surprised to see how rapidly the feathers were replaced, and I plucked my ducks several times before permitting them to fly about. On game farms many of the stock birds are pinioned, of course. After the birds have mated and the ducks begin to lay there is little danger of their deserting, provided they are well looked after and fed regularly. In a wild state the ducks are monogamous, or nearly so, but on the preserve one drake seems sufficient to serve two or three ducks when they are yarded. When the ducks are kept in flocks and have access to a large water, Captain Oates says, there should be plenty of drakes, say fifteen drakes to twenty ducks. When the preserve is well situated on or near other waters which are preserved or which are much fre- quented by migratory birds many visitors may be ex- pected, and often a wild bird will remain to mate with one of the ducks on the preserve. It is desirable to pre- vent elopements, and many gamekeepers trap the visi- tors and pinion them. It is an easy matter to trap some of the visiting ducks in a wire enclosure (built partly on the land and partly in the water), open on the water side, where there is a sliding door which can be dropped after the wild ducks enter the trap, or a swinging door which will close quickly when a catch is released. The tame ducks can be fed daily in this enclosure, and the wilder birds will follow into the trap, when the trapper, who controls the door by means of a string, is well concealed. 38 PROCURING STOCK BIRDS AND EGGS The wild birds can be held by clipping their wings or pinioning them, and soon they will become quite as tame as those on the ground. I enjoy much seeing the ducks up in the air, and I do not like those which cannot fly well. It is a beautiful sight to seé the flock circling about overhead or making long flights over the sur- rounding country when you feel sure they will return, but there is always a danger that strangers may lure your birds to make a longer journey than is desirable, and for this reason it is well to control the breeding ducks during the Spring migration and to trap enough breeders in the Fall before the shooting begins to re- stock the place another year. Where many birds are induced to nest on the preserve they will more than offset any losses that may occur, and, in fact, a few score of breeders will supply a good lot. of shooting and also serve as decoys. Some English writers think it is a mistake to allow any birds to breed wild, but this, of course, means shooting of a more or less artificial char- acter, although the hand-reared birds may often fly as high and as fast as the wilder birds do. I prefer both wild and hand-reared birds, but on a small shoot and as ornaments for a country place or city park the last named are the more suitable, since they are easily man- aged and can be kept at home as easily as tame pigeons can be on comparatively small areas. There is one good thing about hand-rearing: The birds can be multiplied rapidly, and good shooting can be had within eight months after the start is made. Pheasants and other upland game can be reared in the vicinity of the duck ponds, and I have seen the pheas- ants very abundant, breeding wild, in the marshes PROCURING STOCK BIRDS AND EGGS 39 owned by a duck club. They were benefitted, of course, by the protection given to the ducks. A syndicate of sportsmen recently has been formed in New York to propagate wild ducks on a large scale. Skilled gamekeepers will be employed, and the upland game will be made abundant, undoubtedly, in the vicinity of the duck ponds. An estimate of the cost of the under- taking will be found in the chapter on How to Form a Duck Club. VI NATURAL FOODS OF WILD DUCKS [C is an easy matter to attract wild ducks to places where their natural foods are abundant and to hold them, provided the grounds be made safe and the shoot- ing be done in a manner which will not drive them away. On the English preserves the ducks are fed largely with grain, but there are many places in America where their natural foods are abundant. On many de- sirable places, however, the ducks are seldom, if ever,- seen on account of the persecution they are sure to en- counter. A gamekeeper is required, of course, and since the ducks can be multiplied far more rapidly by hand-rear- ing than they are when breeding wild, he should pro- duce many ducks by this means in addition to the ducks which breed in a wild state. Many plants which furnish food for wild ducks can be introduced and grown in places where they do not now occur, and a number of dealers can supply wild rice and wild celery, two of the most important foods. The principal dealers are North- rup, King & Co., seedsmen, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Clyde B. Terrell (R. F. D. No. 5, Box 40), Oskosh, Wisconsin, and R. B. White, Waterlily, North Carolina. «0 NATURAL FOODS OF WILD DUCKS 41 Northrup, King & Co. can supply both wild rice and wild celery and possibly other natural foods for ducks, and they have issued two booklets about the wild rice and celery and how to plant them, which will be sent free upon request. Mr. Clyde B. Terrell deals in wild celery and issues a circular telling how to plant it, which he will mail to anyone applying for it. R. B. White can supply wild celery, both the seeds and the roots, and also fox-tail grass and other foods. The wild rice furnishes both food and cover and is a valuable plant wherever it can be successfully grown. Formerly there were many complaints that the wild rice seed failed to grow when planted, but the cause for many failures has been discovered and recently it has been successfully introduced in many places. Although the wild rice is regarded by many gunners as the most important natural food for ducks, other natural foods seem to be quite as valuable, and some of them may be grown in places where the wild rice does not thrive. In The Amateur Sportsman for October, 1910, I printed an interesting and instructive letter from Dr. R. V. Pierce, who has been very successful in introducing the fox-tail grass and several other duck foods, but he said he had no success in raising wild rice. The sportsmen who own shares in the duck clubs throughout the country where no practical preserving or hand-rearing of wild fowl is attempted long have been interested in wild rice, wild celery, wapato and other natural duck foods as a means of attracting the birds to their shooting grounds, but with the growth of practical preserves, where ducks are encouraged to re- main and nest in a wild state and where also they are 42 NATURAL. FOODS OF WILD DUCKS hand-reared in large numbers, the importance of the natural foods has grown rapidly. In a bulletin on “Wild Rice, Its Uses and Propaga- tion,” issued by the Bureau of Plant Industry, United States Department of Agriculture, we are told that by far the largest demand for information regarding this plant has come from men or organizations wishing to secure viable seed for planting near shooting grounds to attract wild fowl. In the future this information will be sought by those who are breeding wild ducks for sport and profit. The bulletin referred to and a second bulletin on “The Salt Water Limits of Wild Rice,” issued by the same department, will be of more economic importance and value now that the States and Provinces have be- gun amending their game laws so as to permit the profitable industry of game breeding. It seemed hardly worth while for one department of the Government to issue expensive bulletins telling the people how to pro- duce foods for breeders when another department was actively interested in game laws prohibiting such in- dustry. The two bulletins above referred to contain much information about wild rice and the best methods for its introduction. The earlier experiments with this plant failed, undoubtedly, because the seed was dried before shipping and planting. It is now packed in moss and shipped wet. Wild ducks also are fond of mast and eagerly devour acorns, beech nuts and other small nuts, and all of these foods impart a fine flavor to the flesh. On preserves where these natural foods abound, or when they are in- troduced and made abundant, they will be found not a NATURAL FOODS OF WILD DUCKS 43 only to attract migratory fowl, but also they will reduce the grain bill. I recently saw hundreds of mallards on a New Jersey preserve feeding on acorns which had fallen in a road and on the lawn which bordered an artificial pond, and I have often shot mallards, wood-ducks and other river ducks, or dabblers, in the Central and Western States when they were feeding on acorns and other mast. On the Pacific coast the wapato is a favorite food for wild ducks, and it has been successfully introduced in ponds and lakes where wild ducks are properly looked after. J am not aware of any dealer who handles this plant or if it has been used anywhere in the Eastern States. Mr. W. A. Howe, of Carleton, Oregon, who owns a small farm, which has a small lake thirty acres in extent, formerly fed the wild ducks with wheat and in this way secured some very good shooting. In writ- ing to The Amateur Sportsman he said: “We have given up using wheat, as a few years ago I planted the lake with wapato, a native bulb which thrives in all lakes in this vicinity and of which the ducks are very fond. In this way we have plenty of ducks for all rea- sonable shooting and, of course, at a much less expense. ‘IT do not know how the wapato would stand transporta- tion. The bulb resembles a small onion and grows freely in this country in muddy ponds and swales where there is a foot or so of water.” Mr. Howe informs me also that the carp, which were introduced by the United States Fish Commissioners, have entirely destroyed the wapato in many waters. This undesirable fish also has destroyed the wild rice in the Sandusky marshes, Ohio, and in many other 44 NATURAL FOODS OF WILD DUCKS places, and duck breeders should see that the carp are not introduced in their waters or should destroy them, if possible, in waters where the natural foods for ducks are planted. Mr. Howe says he has no carp in his lake. In the letter above referred to Dr. Pierce says: “I have planted a good deal of wild celery seed, Val- lisneria spiralis, which I have obtained from Mr. Jasper B. White and from other individuals in different parts of the country, with very good success. I succeeded much better by planting the seed of the wild celery than by planting the roots of the same, and it is much cheaper to obtain the pods of the wild celery and plant them than to undertake to transplant the plants. My lakes and ponds are now quite well seeded with this plant. I have also planted a good deal of the Potamogeton pectinatus, or ‘fox-tail grass,’ and with good success. I regard the fox-tail grass as one of the most valuable duck foods be- cause it seeds prolifically and, also, produces bulbs which are much sought after by many species of ducks; in fact, by all the species; also by wild geese. ‘Fox-tail grass’ spreads very rapidly. When once produced in a duck preserve, one need have no fear of its ever running out or failing to grow abundantly. ‘“T have several other species of Potamogeton which are indigenous to my lakes and ponds, one of which is well worthy of mention, as it is prolific in the abundance of seeds which it produces and spreads rapidly. I refer to the Potamogeton lucens. Potamogeton persillus also grows to a considerable extent in my lakes and ponds and produces considerable seed. This year a most boun- tiful crop of water chinquapins, or Nelumbo lutea, have made their appearance in my lakes and ponds, covering NATURAL FOODS OF WILD DUCKS 45 many acres. It is a very interesting plant, has a beauti- ful bloom of great fragrance and produces small nuts about the size of a rather undersized acorn, of which all classes of ducks are exceedingly fond. I have not planted much of any variety of Polygonum, or smartweed, but have several species growing in my duck ponds, which the ducks seem to feed upon very much. The two species most successful in this line are the Polygonum punctatum and the Polygonum lapithifolium. The latter is a very large species and grows a good deal of seed, and I con- sider it quite valuable as a duck food. A small sedge grass grows quite freely in some of my lakes and ponds, and is known by botanists as Cladium effusium. It is generally distributed through the South, I believe, and is frequently found in the gullets of ducks when examined. I have not had any success in raising wild rice, Zizania aquatica. I have sowed large quantities of wild rice ob- tained from Canada and from Minnesota, and, while it would grow to some extent, it would not mature seed. Probably the jump in latitude was too great for it. I am now endeavoring to obtain some wild rice grown in the Carolinas, and hope that it may do better. Thalia divaricata is a plant which grows on my preserve quite extensively and is much sought after by ducks, espe- cially mallards, who feed upon the seeds growing upon, it very freely. The plants grow from five to ten feet high and hang full of seed of large size, and I have been planting considerable of it as I regard it as a very valu- able duck food. ‘Widgeon grass,’ or Rupia maratima, grows freely in many of the lakes and ponds of St. Vin- cent’s Island, and its seed is almost universally found in the gullets and gizzards of ducks shot on the preserve. 46 NATURAL FOODS OF WILD DUCKS “The foregoing aré some of the most important duck foods on my preserve and most of which can be readily introduced with a little pains and persistency by anyone who takes the pains and trouble necessary and has the preper sort of environment for these plants to flourish in.” - Mr. Whealton says: “My young and old shovellers will eat all the tadpoles and frogs they can catch, and their greatest activity is shown in the pursuit of such prey. “In régard to the food of wild ducks not in captivity, I will state that our bay, Chincoteague Bay, about six miles wide and extending northward over forty miles, has its shallow bottoms covered with various aquatic plants, mostly ‘ell grass,’ as our people call it, and this is the chief food of our wild geese, brant and ducks. The red- heads and scaups feed after the geese to get the grass which the former pull up from the bottom. The black, mallard, sprig-tail and teal eat, in addition to the salt water plants and grasses, or rather, the grasses of the brackish or partly fresh water of the upper bay, the special duck grass that grows in the fresh and partly fresh water ponds of our marshes and on our islands, etc.”* « An English writer recently said that on a large num- ber of estates both in England and in Wales there is swampy land that is useless to the farmer and under its present condition is worse than useless for shooting. This land can be made most valuable to the sporting *Letter to the author. Dr. Pierce and Mr. Whealton have had excel- lent opportunities to study the food habits of wild ducks, and I am much indebted to them for assistance in the preparation of this chapter. NATURAL FOODS OF WILD DUCKS 47 tenant with a small cost. First, he says, it should be fenced with large mesh netting to keep out hunting dogs. Second, open some pools in the most convenient and quietest parts. In these place some boxes contain- ing soil and plant watercress in the boxes. Nail some netting over the tops. This will prevent the cress from washing out. Place the boxes in the pools; there the cress will grow and seed and soon establish good beds of cress. Third (and most important), get some wil- lows in variety, and plant these at a distance of three or four feet apart. Insert pieces about three and a half feet long in the ground; these in a few years will treble the cost of planting and the wild fowl will have places in which to feed and to breed. The shooting will be greatly improved, for if a few duck were pinioned on these places the wild birds will breed and rear their broods in safety. The willows can be cut every year or two. Firms who make baskets will buy them. Wild ducks require very little water, and they will frequent and breed beside very small ponds, provided they find an abundance of food and safe quarters. If the ducks are abundant they should, of course, be fed at least one meal of grain daily, and the best time to feed this is late in the day, since feeding at this time tends to prevent their straying. Some interesting ex- periments with wild ducks can be made, inexpensively, on thousands of farms in America which now contain worthless swamps and boggy places. In addition to the plant foods, the ducks devour many insects during the Summer, and they procure about the ponds and streams much animal food, such as snails, worms, and small organisms found in mud. Many of 48 NATURAL FOODS OF WILD DUCKS the ducks, undoubtedly, may take small fish when they cannot obtain other food, but, as I observed in a former chapter, they prefer a vegetable diet, and their flesh is much better for the table when they are feeding on grain, mast and the plants named above Vil ARTIFICIAL REARING OF WILD DUCKS HERE ducks are artificially reared they should be induced to nest in safe enclosures, wired against vermin. The nesting ground should be a grassy field, shaded on one or more sides by trees, which also give shelter from cold winds. The nesting places usually are made of brush arranged to form little shelters over the nests. On some preserves the nests and sheltering covers are very elaborately made, but on the preserves where I have seen thousands of ducks the nests were simply protected by small brush stood up in a conical form with an entrance at one side for the duck. Captain Oates says: “Ducks love to nest in stacks, and I have known a pinioned bird to work her way up the side of a stack and make her nest fifteen feet from the ground. In stacks birds can burrow so deep that no weather, however inclement, can damage the eggs. Outhouses, too, are very favorite places for ducks to lay in; also old stick heaps and the bottom of thick hedges.” On a Long Island preserve I saw ducks nesting be- side an overturned stump among the roots and on a 49 50 ARTIFICIAL REARING OF WILD DUCKS preserve in North Carolina many ducks nested on the bank of a small stream, often under the projecting roots of trees or beside a log. It is an easy matter, and an important one, to induce the ducks to lay their eggs within a field which is wired against ground vermin. The fence is made of chicken wire and is run into the ground, and the wire is turned outward underground so that any rat, or other vermin, will not ‘be able to enter the field. Traps are placed out- side the fence and always beside any holes where ver- min has been digging. a: No one had any success in rearing the young ducks in England until the proper food for them was discov- ered. This was invented and made by a well known dealer in foods for pheasants and poultry, and duck rear- ing at once became common on the preserves and on many game farms. A number of excellent wild duck meals are now manu- factured in England and in America, and the best of these may be obtained from the Spratt’s Patent (Am.) Limited, Newark, New Jersey, or from at least one game farmer, Mr. Wallace Evans, of Oak Park, Illinois. Since young ducks live largely on insects, it was nec- essary to provide some animal matter in the food. The gamekeepers, however, quickly transfer the young ducks to a grass field after they are hatched, where they . can secure some insects, the more the better, no doubt, and the coops in which the hens are confined are moved from day to day in order to give the young birds fresh ground and a better chance to secure insect food. Mr. Whealton writes: “T feed all my young wild geese, ducks and swan, from GNNOUDS YDNIYVEY NO GHHSNITW SCUVITIVAN ARTIFICIAL REARING OF WILD DUCKS 51 the first day they are hatched until ready for adult fare, on coarse yellow cornmeal alone, and the food I use most exclusively for all adult wild fowl is corn—corn in the whole grain, rarely the cracked form—and this fare I have adopted after many years of experiment with vari- ous mixtures of grain, wild duck feed, et hoc genus omne. “I should add that I do not confine any of the young wild fowl, but let them go with the parent birds to forage for themselves, and no doubt they greatly supplement the ration I give them with the many kinds of insect life and the seeds, leaves and roots of the various forms of land and aquatic grasses and plants that abound in my enclosures. The Canada goslings begin nibbling grass certainly by the second day of their existence and do not seem inclined to take to the water as early as the young ducks and cygnets, which almost roll out of the egg shell into the water and begin swimming on their natal day. “The cygnets of the Black Australian swan as well as the adults themselves are foragers par excellence in all seasons, as the young of these erratic but wonderfully prolific breeders are hatched out as often in midwinter as in midsummer. The young black ducks seem to derive a great amount of satisfaction as well as nutriment from the ooze and mud of the banks and shallow bottoms, which they industriously sift through their bills, while the adults are almost omnivorous, eating all kinds of roots, grasses, seeds, flies, insects, minnows, crustacea, etc. (I have opened the craws of those killed on our marshes and found them full of periwinkles swallowed whole.) Gourmands, these fellows, with wonderful pow- ers of digestion.” 52 ARTIFICIAL REARING OF WILD DUCKS The reader should remember Mr. Whealton’s state- ment that his young birds are not confined and supple- ment the cornmeal ration, which he feeds, with many kinds of insect life and the seeds, leaves and roots of various land and aquatic grasses and plants, “which abound in his enclosures.” The English writers and gamekeepers regard the duck meal as essential where the ducks do not secure the supplemental foods mentioned. I have records of many thousands of ducks which were reared, almost without any loss, on the prepared duck meal. Ducks are now reared even more easily than pheas- ants are, and the young birds seem less subject to dis- eases. At one time the small bantams were regarded as the best foster-mothers for pheasants and ducks, but the common barnyard fowls of all breeds are now regarded as good as any; the most docile hens and those which are the more easily handled at the feeding time are better than hens which are wild and unruly, since the last named break the eggs. Duck eggs are more fragile than the eggs of poultry. . At a duck preserve in New Jersey, where I spent some time studying the gamekeeper’s art, the sitting hens are placed in boxes which are built inside of a hatching house (see illustration) extending from the floor nearly to the low ceiling. The hens are tested on eggs until it is ascertained that they will sit steadily, when some of the duck eggs, which have been gathered in large numbers, are placed under them. The eggs when they are gathered are placed on end in a tray containing bran, sawdust, hay or other suit- INTERIOR OF HATCHING HOUSE Gamekeeper Taking Hens Out to Feed Them ARTIFICIAL REARING OF WILD DUCKS 53 able material. They are turned daily and will remain fertile for several weeks, during which time they are placed under the hens or in incubators. From ten to fifteen eggs can be hatched under a com- mon hen, but it is well not to have too many, since the hen may not cover them all. Mr. De Visme Shaw says let the clutch number no more than seven if the hen is set in cold weather, and in no case more than ten. I am inclined to believe that most hens can handle a dozen eggs, in proper nests, nicely, but the breeder can learn by experimenting just what his hens can do. When the eggs are abundant and the hens scarce it is well to put them to their full capacity. Captain Oates advises making the clutch twelve eggs for hens and thirteen for ducks, and, he says, five of his ducks hatched no fewer than sixty-five ducklings. He ad- vises leaving two or three eggs in each nest when the eggs are gathered. The first few eggs laid often are infertile, and these may be marked and left in the nest to encourage the duck to continue laying. Wild ducks will lay many more eggs than they can hatch. When the eggs are removed, after enough eggs for one or two clutches have been gathered, the duck should be permitted to sit and hatch a brood. In an article written for The Amateur Sportsman, Captain Oates says one should get from twenty to thirty-three eggs per duck each season. He has even done much better than this at times. “Some years ago,” he says, “I tried an experiment and turned into a small enclosure two pure bred wild ducks which I had reared from wild eggs, and also a wild drake which I had cap- 54 ARTIFICIAL REARING OF WILD DUCKS tured. I fed these birds myself and also collected the eggs daily. No one else was permitted to enter the pen. The result was surprising. I obtained 119 eggs between February 21 and June 1. I was most particu- lar in giving the birds a flower pot full of worms each day. On two different occasions three eggs were laid in one day. An account of this extraordinary occur- rence was sent to the Field (London), and it was pointed out by me that it was impossible for other birds to enter and lay in the pen and that the eggs were collected on the days before and after the occurrence. Further, the eggs were those of the two birds men- tioned, their shape and color exactly coinciding with those previously laid. However, I do not advise con- fining the birds in any way; give them plenty of liberty and the eggs will be fertile and the hatching percent- age a high one.” Elliot says the mallard breeding wild usually lays only six eggs, and the reader will observe how much more rapidly the wild ducks are increased in numbers on the preserve than they are when breeding wild. One or two hundred ducks should easily produce from two to four thousand young birds, and even more if the average of thirty-three, named by Captain Oates, should be attained. — The nests in the hatching boxes shown in the illus- tration are made of a heavy sod from which the earth. has been partly removed in the middle so that it will become concave when it is placed in the box. Oates says to use any square box of sufficient depth and, having cut some pieces of sod, build up the cor- ners of the box with them; then cut a square sod to fit ARTIFICIAL REARING OF WILD DUCKS 55 the size of the box and, having removed some of the. earth underneath the center of the sod, place it, grass upwards, in the box. Line the nest. with dry moss. Mr. De Visme Shaw favors placing the nests on the ground. The sitting hens and ducks should be fed on. corn or other grain, and the hen should be taken off. and fed and watered daily. When the duck starts to sit, if she has not enough eggs the nest can be filled up from the eggs which have been previously gathered. It has been recorded in the Shooting Times and British Sportsman that a duck will dispose of an egg or two if she thinks she has too many, and Captain Oates says upon one occasion when one of his ducks was sitting on fifteen eggs a friend on. whose veracity he could rely, saw the duck fly from her nest, close to where he was standing, with an egg in her bill. She flew to the water about 150 yards away, ap- parently without breaking the egg; but, unfortunately, his. friend could not get up in time to see what she did with it. She hatched out the rest of her eggs satis- factorily.* Since the wild duck returns to her nest with her feathers wet after being on the water, the wild duck eggs should be sprinkled occasionally with tepid water when they are hatched under hens. This should be done effectively as the time for hatching approaches. Mr. De Visme Shaw advises that on the twenty-fifth day the eggs and nest be removed and that a quart or. more of water be poured into the nesting box, allowing: *Captain W. Coape Oates’ “Wild Ducks.” For breeding periods of the different species breeding wild, see Audubon Am. Ornith.; Wilson Ornith.; Baird; Brewer & Ridgway, N. A. M. Birds; Appendix. 56 ARTIFICIAL REARING OF WILD DUCKS the liquid to be thoroughly absorbed by the earth be- fore putting back the nest and eggs. This ‘might do when nests are made on the ground, as Mr. Shaw ad- vises, but less water should be used when the nest is made on a sod in a box. A thorough sprinkling of the eggs and a little water on the sod is all that is re- quired. The earlier experiments in hatching wild duck eggs in incubators were failures, since the fact that the duck eggs need moisture was overlooked. More recent ex- periments have been more successful when the eggs have been sprinkled with tepid water. I succeeded in hatching some eggs (which I imported from England) in an electric incubator. These eggs were thoroughly sprinkled as the hatching time approached. Ducks’ eggs take from twenty-four to twenty-nine days to hatch, as a rule, though occasionally a lot of eggs that have been put down soon after being laid will hatch in twenty-three days, if placed under a good hen. Twenty-six days may be said to be the usual period of incubation. Wild ducks should not be permitted to interbreed with tame ducks. The Shooting Times and British Sportsman says: ““Any reader who possesses a stock of real wild duck has a valuable thing, which he may turn to good account. Those stocks which have been hand-reared for the last ten years have become so impregnated with domestic blood as to be practically useless for first-rate sport, be- cause they neither can nor will fly high. A real wild duck rarely associates with the domestic varieties, and, as far as we have been able to ascertain, never interbreeds ‘Syond omy, ev szeqj0 : aU} 'SPIBIIVI e1B SpPIIq JOYIvp oT “Ioqiny e437 AQ puLvlsuq Woay poyrodmyr artaMmM s3so OL MUOA MON NI ALIONVLOAIG AG GULVANONI SONG DNOOX ARTIFICIAL REARING OF WILD DUCKS 57 with them,* but his partially tame brother has no such re- luctance, and if the two kinds are near each other it is difficult to keep them apart. Game farmers are also guilty of infusing domestic blood, for they have found that a stock of duck having such an infusion were easier to pen and manage, and the larger size of the birds they thought would appeal to their patrons. However, what is the use of a bigger duck if it refuses to fly, for the primary motive with which they are reared is to provide sport, and size _ and quality is quite a secondary consideration. The true wild duck is a delicious bird on the table, and the slight- est introduction of domestic blood appears to desiey its peculiar piquant flavor. “At the present time there is a great desire in shooting circles, where the hand-reared duck as a sporting bird is appreciated, to revert to the true stock, and thoroughly stamp out the halfbreeds. This is why we declare that he who has a true stock holds a valuable possession, for the eggs are likely in the near future to command a big price. There is no mistaking the egg ‘of the real wild duck, its shape being perfect and its delicate coloring of pale sea green unapproachable. The slightest infusion of domestic blood appears to rob it of these character- istics, and the egg laid by a bird possessing such blood in ever so small a degree becomes larger in size, and the green gives place to a dirty white. The first, and even second, nest of eggs laid by a wild duck may be picked up for sale, and she will lay again, possibly only half a dozen on the third occasion, but they will be as fertile as those produced earlier, and the ducklings will be hatched at a *This statement seems to be erroneous. In America the wild mallard often interbreeds with tame ducks. 58 ARTIFICIAL REARING OF WILD DUCKS season when they are easily reared. There will thus be about two dozen eggs available for sale.” On Long Island, N. Y., and elsewhere about the At-. lantic coast there are many half-bred ducks which can fly fairly well, but the reader. should insist, that the ducks purchased for a preserve have no infusion of domestic blood. . It is most desirable to have birds which will fly high. and fast. VIII YOUNG DUCKS ON REARING FIELD Ww the young ducks are hatched they should be removed, with their foster-mother, to a grassy field, wired against vermin, the hen being confined in a coop such as is used when young chickens are reared. The young ducks are allowed to run about by day, and the coop is closed, by a sliding door made of wire, at night. The coop should be placed facing the sun, and it is wise to have a windbreak behind it to keep cold winds from the little ducks early in the season. The birds should not be moved to the field until they are quite dry and lively—when they are about one day old. The ducklings require hardly anything to eat or drink during the first twenty-four hours after they are hatched. They, no doubt, will spend their time under the hen. They should be fed at first on a little duck meal scalded and placed on a plate or pan outside the coop. A little of the food can be scattered in the grass and within the coop to attract their attention, but it is not wise to con-- tinue feeding them anything inside the coop for sani- tary reasons. The hen, of course, should be fed and watered at least twice daily. The young ducks should be fed very early in the 59 * 60 YOUNG DUCKS ON REARING FIELD morning, and often during the day for the first two weeks. Only a little food should be given at a time, and not more than théy will eat, since it is not desirable to ‘have stale food about. Mr. De Visme Shaw says young wild ducks will do well if fed as their domesticated relatives are usually fed; but they do better, and this with less trouble to their attendant, if raised from the shell on food specially adapted to them—such as Gilbertson & Page’s largely used wild duck meal—the special food containing a cor- rect proportion of animal matter. Mr. Edgar, one of the most successful gamekeepers in America, whose ducks are pictured in several of my illustrations, uses exclusively the duck food sold by the Spratt’s Patent, Limited, of Newark, New Jersey, and he has had remarkable success in rearing his young ducks. Until the ducks are about fourteen days old they should be fed at intervals of from two to three hours, daily, the first feed being given as soon after daybreak as possible. From this age until they are about a month old the intervals between feeding times should be about four hours. A fortnight later three meals a day are sufficient. I fed a lot of young dusky ducks (black ducks) with scraps from the table. They usually had some oatmeal, force or other cereal in the morning, and they ate bread and vegetables. Often when one had a meat bone the others would chase him about the yard just as chickens often chase the one which has secured a bit of food of any kind. Early one Sunday morning they devoured all the rolls left by the baker. YOUNG DUCKS ON REARING FIELD 61 It was not long before my ducks discovered the kitchen garden, which was some distance from the house and from the yard where they were fed. They daily made excursions to the garden, usually on foot, sometimes on the wing, and in order to learn what they liked I permitted them to do considerable damage. They were fond of lettuce. This was the first plant they en- countered as they entered the garden, and I do not recall anything which they did not sample liberally. They were very fond of cucumbers, and in one afternoon they devoured several hundred young cucumbers, which were to have been made into pickles the following day. They destroyed watermelons, which were nearly ripe, cutting them in two with their bills and greedily devouring the fruit, eating very close to the rind. Several ducks’ heads were crowded into the big half melons at one time, and there was soon nothing left save a thin green shell. As the ducks passed the sweet corn they jumped up and plucked at the ears, sometimes taking a little corn from a cob and passing on and at other times pulling down a stalk and eating the young grain more freely. Like chickens, they destroyed more than they ate. When I sent my setters out after the ducks the dogs often made a detour and, circling about, pointed the ducks from the side of the garden farthest from the house. As the dogs drew up close, the ducks would take wing and fly to the kitchen door, where they knew they were safe. These ducks, of course, were too tame, but they seemed to be much wilder when away from home. They made excursions to a bay a mile from the house and often were gone for hours. I have no doubt that a patch of cucumbers and melons 62 YOUNG DUCKS ON REARING FIELD planted near a pond on the preserve and allowed to run wild would prove especially attractive to the ducks and that it would not only tend to keep them at home, but out of mischief. Since wild ducks fly well the ordinary wire about a garden, used to keep chickens out, would be no barrier to them, but some plan should be devised to keep them out of gardens when they are reared on country places. Probably my ducks were not fed enough. If they are not permitted to become too tame it would be an easy matter to scare the ducks away and to let them know that the place was not safe, and by providing some similar green foods in more accessible and safer places they, no doubt, could be taught to stay out of the garden. The English duck preservers and gamekeepers all ad- vise that ducks reared under hens be not taken to the water ‘until:they are seven or eight weeks old. They’ should have water to drink in shallow pans and plenty of it. It is well to put some sand in the water and to scatter sand and fine grit about where the ducks can always find plenty of these necessary materials. The ‘young ducks are infatuated with the water, and the the- ory is that without an aquatic mother to regulate their bathing and to lead them out at the proper time the ducklings stay in too long, like some human youngsters. Young ducks are liable to become chilled after being in the water too long, and they are subject to cramp. It is for this reason that all the authorities, including the gamekeepers, who are the best authorities, agree that it is best to keep young ducks which are reared under hens out in the field and away from any water until they are at least seven or eight weeks old. aaAIesaIg ALasIof AMEN BV UO SpaABl[VvA SunozX GWIL ZANNIG YOUNG DUCKS ON REARING FIELD 63 Mr. De Visme Shaw says the young of wild ducks are as subject, or almost as subject, to cramp as are those of their domestic relatives, and the same care in keeping them from water must be exercised. Whatever kind of vessel be used, it should give the birds easy access to the water for drinking purposes, while at the same time preventing them from wetting their down. He recom- mends a framework made in the shape of a gardener’s hand-light and covered with galvanized netting—the cover being placed over a shallow earthenware baking dish—a most satisfactory contrivance.* The brood of ducks in charge of a duck should, of course, be left to her management. She will take them out on the pond for a short swim, and it is a beautiful sight to see the mother with her troop of cute little duck- lings swimming behind her, or often in advance, the last named no bigger than tennis balls. The proud: matron will make the excursions short at first and will soon have the young birds out on a sunny bank and often under her warm body. Ducks are fond of seeking the shade, especially in the afternoon, when they usually take a doze. About 4 o’clock they begin to move about, afoot or awing. I often observed my ducks dozing in the shade of the house or trees, but at 4 o’clock promptly they marched forth, usually to raid my garden. As they passed my studio window I often called to the children to ascertain the time, asking them if it was 4 o’clock. The ducks were very accurate. The coops should be moved a few feet daily to give the young ducks fresh ground for their feeding places. Wild Fowl.” By De Visme Shaw. 64 YOUNG DUCKS ON REARING FIELD The young ducks are very fond of flies, grasshoppers, and other insects, and the more of this food they can obtain the better. Captain Oates says his young ducks ate bees alive without ill effects. When the ducks are two or three weeks old they may have some wheat or cracked corn, which should be served wet or placed in the water. Barley and corn may be added to their bill of fare a few weeks later. When eight or nine weeks old (the time depending on the weather) the ducks are taken to the water, and then they can be fed on grain only. Cracked corn is, prob- ably, the best food. They will procure a variety of green foods, insects and much other food of various kinds about the pond or lake. In places where wild rice, acorns and the other natu- ral foods are plentiful the ducks will require very little feeding. One meal of grain a day should be sufficient to hold them. IX YOUNG DUCKS ON THE POND HEN the young ducks are taken to the water, after they are eight weeks old, the danger of losses due to disease and to certain kinds of vermin may be said to have passed. All animals thrive best when given much liberty, and the young ducks should grow rapidly in their new surroundings. They should, of course, be properly looked after and protected from vermin, and they should be fed at first two or three times daily with wheat or cracked corn, to which may be added a little of the prepared duck meal, the amount depending upon the amount of natural food they may be able to procure about the pond. The place where they are turned down should be a grassy field, sloping to the pond, with some willows or other trees at a little distance from the water. The field may be wired to keep out stray dogs, cats, and rats and other vermin, and the wire may be ex- tended to include some water in the pond. By feed- ing, the ducks can be taught to use this safe field, al- though they will fly out and explore the pond and often the country in the vicinity. Ducks are great wanderers, unless they be kept too tame for sport, and they may 65 66 YOUNG DUCKS ON THE POND take a flight to some water at a distance from home, but they will be sure to return at the feeding time, or if alarmed, and if a horn or dog whistle be used and sound- ed before they are fed they will learn to come to the sound. I discovered this fact by accident and have since seen it mentioned in the English magazines. Some dusky ducks which I reared in my yard were always on the lookout at feeding time and often came to the kitchen door and made loud demands for my appearance. [ used to feed some setters there and in order to teach them to come at the sound of the whistle I often blew it just before feeding them. The ducks quickly associated the sound of the whistle with my appearance with the food, and often flew swiftly to the doorway and took the food I threw down for the dogs before the last named arrived. These birds were quite tame, of course, and were not afraid of me or of the dogs, but they could fly well and often explored the country round about and went out to a bay a mile distant, as I have said, where they remained for hours and took their chances of being shot in the open season. I feared they had gone for good the first time they went away. They were much tamer than ducks should be kept on a game preserve. It is a singular fact, which seems almost incredible, that ducks which are tame in the presence of their owner or in a locality where they know they are safe, often will be as wild as any wild ducks when a stranger appears or when they are on dangerous waters. Mr. Charles C. Townsend, of Colorado, wrote the fol- lowing story about some wild ducks for Mr. Shields, the editor of Shields’ Magazine, which well illustrates this GYVT OL ONINUALAY SGUVIIVN ONNOA—UANNIG WALUAV YOUNG DUCKS ON THE POND 67 point: “One mile north of the little village of Moses, Colorado,” he says, “lives the family of J. C. Gray. On the Gray ranch there is an artesian well which empties into a small pond about 100 feet square. This pond is never entirely frozen over, and the water emptying there- in is warm, even during the coldest winter. “Some five years ago ‘Mr. Gray secured a few wild duck eggs and hatched them under a hen. The little ducks were reared and fed on the pond. The following spring they left the place to return in the fall, bringing with them broods of young; also bringing other ducks to the home where protection was afforded them and plenty of food was provided. Each year since the ducks have scattered in the Spring to mate and rear their fami- lies, returning again with greatly increased numbers in the fall and again bringing strangers to the haven of refuge. = “TI drove out to the ranch, November 24, 1902, and found the little pond almost black with birds and was fortunate enough to secure a picture of a part of the pond when the ducks were thickly gathered thereon. Ice had formed around the edges, and this ice was cov- ered with ducks. The water was also alive with others, which paid not the least attention to the party of stran- gers on the shore. From Mr: Gray I learned that there were some 600 ducks of various kinds on the pond at that time, though it was then early for them to seek Winter quarters. Later in the year, he assured me, there - would be between 2,000 and 3,000 teal, mallards, canvas backs, redheads and other varieties, all perfectly at home and fearless of danger. The family have habitually ap- proached the pond from the house, which stands on the 68 YOUNG DUCKS ON THE POND south side, and should any person appear on the north side of the pond the ducks immediately take fright and flight. Wheat was strewn on the ground and in the wa- ter, and the ducks waddled around us within a few inches of our feet, paying not the least attention to us or to the old house dog which walked near. “Six miles east of the raneh is San Luis Lake, to which these ducks travel almost daily while the lake is open. When they are at the lake it is impossible to ap- proach within gunshot of the then timid birds. Some unsympathetic boys and men have learned the habits of the birds and place themselves in hiding along the course of flight to and from the lake. Many ducks are shot in this way, but woe to the person caught firing a gun near the home pond. When away from home the birds are as wild as other wild ducks and fail to recognize any mem- bers of the Gray family, while-at home they follow the boys around the barnyard, squawking for food like so many tame ducks. “This is the greatest sight I have ever witnessed and one that I could not believe existed until I had seen it. Certainly it is worth traveling many miles to see.” The following accounts of wild ducks in Florida and elsewhere, with the remarkable picture of ducks at Lake Worth, which was sent to me by Dr. Dutcher, the dis- tinguished President of the National Association of Audubon Societies, also illustrates this peculiarity of wild. ducks. . The picture was published by the Association in an educational leaflet and Mr. Forbush, who wrote it, says: “At Titusville, Florida, where no shooting is allowed near the hotel or wharves, the wild ducks from the river ‘WId ‘ALUOM ANVI LY SMONd AIIM YOUNG DUCKS ON THE POND 69 become so tame that they swim’ about among the boats like domesticated fowl and will even come out on the lawn near the hotel. These same ducks when out on the river beyond the ‘dead line’ are as wild as the wildest. “At Lake Worth, Florida, the same conditions prevail, and the scaup ducks swimming in the lake become so confiding that they may be fed from the hand. In the ponds of the Middlesex Fells reservation, near Boston, Massachusetts, where gunning is prohibited, the black ducks have greatly increased, and some now nest in the vicinity of Boston. ‘ “When the State of New York first prohibited Spring shooting, breeding black ducks were rare on Fisher’s Island. A few years later there was.good shooting on the island each Fall because of the ducks that were reared there. Dr. Shaw, who was rearing wild ducks near New Bedford, Massachusetts, asked the farmers near his place to post their land and prevent shooting as a means of protecting his ducks from poachers. This was done, and within two years wild black ducks began breeding on the farms all about.” A friend of mine who reared some wild mallards near a pond in Maine informed me that one of his wild ducks came in the house. These ducks could fly well, and some of them were shot when on a visit to a neighbor- ing lake. Ducks on a preserve often are quite tame in the presence of their gamekeeper, but take wing when a stranger approaches. This is as it should be. I was talking with a gamekeeper one day, at Allamuchy, New Jersey, when some of his ducks came in, flying high over the tree tops. They headed to the wind and were de- scending to the little pond by which we were standing, 70 YOUNG DUCKS ON THE POND when they discovered my presence, and: with loud squawks climbed high in the air and soon were out of sight. “They will come back all right,’ said their keeper. a Many wild ducks now are bred in the New York Zoological Park and in Central Park, New York. These birds have learned that they are safe in the presence of visitors to the parks, and, although they fly about and some, no doubt, desert, they are easily approached. Wild ducks which visit ducks on the preserves soon be- come comparatively tame in the presence of the game- keeper. The danger is not that the ducks will be so wild as to desert when they are properly looked after but that they may’ become too tame for sport. They should be shot, as we shall observe later, when they are away from the pond where they are fed. PIN-TAIL EGGS sepaseieevoa, yp WILD DUCKS IN CENTRAL PARK Photograph by the Author x THE NATURAL ENEMIES OF GAME HE natural enemies of game birds collectively are termed vermin by the gamekeepers. It is a singu- lar fact that the word “vermin” was almost unknown in America and was rarely, if ever, used in our sporting literature until I wrote a paper on “Game Bird Enemies” for The Independent, which was published March 5, 1908. One of the chief causes for the rapid disappearance of our game is that it cannot stand the ravages of vermin and shooting at the same time. The word vermin often is used in the English sporting magazines and books, and the importance of controlling the enemies of game in order to make a place for the shooting often is dis- cussed. “To destroy vermin is to preserve game” is a familiar English maxim, and the gamekeepers know that they cannot preserve vermin and game on the same field and show good shooting. _ Dr. D’Arcy I. Hamilton says: “To show a good head of game on an estate the place must be cleared of ver- min, and there is no time like the close time for this. The professional keeper knows this and knows how to. accomplish it.” TW 72 THE NATURAL ENEMIES OF GAME Mr. Owen Jones, an Oxford graduate who selected gamekeeping as his profession, says: “ ‘Let the keeper look after the vermin and the game will look after itself,’ is a saying which has stood the test of time. There is no more interesting phase of a keeper’s work than the circumvention of vermin. Dull indeed would it be on a shoot where there is absolutely no vermin; one might as well use a gun which mechanically prevented missing. Though I had to do a lot of game shooting, I enjoyed the all around sport with vermin better. Often have I thought that I would like to get a keeper’s berth where vermin teemed. I do not mean a place swarming with rats and rooks, but holding a good old fashioned stock of all sorts of vermin.”* The naturalists are right, no doubt, in saying that many species of vermin are beneficial and that they do not do as much harm as some gamekeepers imagine they do. Laws, however, which prohibit the killing of game enemies should not apply to game farms and preserves. The matter of the control of harmful species should be left to the game breeder. It would be quite as logical to say that the shepherd must not kill the wolves which de- stroy his flocks as it is to say that the breeder of game must not control the enemies which kill his game. We should remember that it is easy to distinguish what game enemies are injurious and that it is not neces- sary or even possible to absolutely destroy even the most harmful species. This I regard as fortunate, since I enjoy seeing an occasional sly fox about and the graceful fal- con sailing overhead or striking his quarry. It is an easy *“Ten Years of Game Keeping.” By Owen Jones. London, Edwin Arnold, 1909. Longmans, Green & Co., New York. THE NATURAL ENEMIES OF GAME 73 matter to make game so abundant that some of it can be spared to feed an occasional enemy. There is no other cause for the decrease of the wild fowl, which is of more importance to American sports- men than their destruction by vermin, excepting, of course, the draining of the ponds and marshes, which amounts to a total annihilation in the places which are drained. The relation of the game to its natural enemies and the laws which govern nature’s balance are well under- stood by game preservers. Game preserving is highly scientific. Without it evidently it is certain, in America, that we cannot have good shooting save in the more un- settled regions. When we undertake it there can be no doubt that the game can be kept abundant in the most densely populated regions, although thousands of birds be shot every year. This has been proven in England everywhere and in many places in the United States where the experiment has been tried.* All forms of life, it is well known, tend to increase with such great rapidity that a very few of any species soon would increase so as to overrun the earth were it not for the many natural checks to their increase. Dar- win says: “Lighten any check, mitigate the destruction ever so little and the number of the species will almost instantaneously increase to any amount.” The converse of Darwin’s proposition equally is true. When we add to the checks to the increase of game *The best examples of game abundance on the upland are the quail preserves of North Carolina and the pheasant preserves of New Eng- land, New York, New Jersey, etc. There are a number of wild duck preserves in New England, New York and New Jersey, where wild fow] have been restored and made abundant., 74 THE NATURAL ENEMIES OF GAME “ever so little” we must expect the number of the species to decrease, and. the proposition has been proven in America as conclusively as Darwin’s statement has been proven in England. Our game has vanished because we have added an important check to its increase—shoot- ing—without first removing some of the natural checks to its increase to make a place for the shooting. The Eng- lish gamekeepers have removed the check to increase— vermin—as far as possible, and the guns shoot thousands of birds every year without causing a diminution in the number of the species. The English sportsmen leave a remnant of game every year to restock the fields, just as vermin, under natural conditions, leaves a remnant for restocking, but in America we shoot the remnant and wonder why our. thousand or more game laws don’t work. When any species of game becomes reduced in num- bers and its natural enemies hold their own or become more numerous, the last named, evidently, are super- abundant when compared with the game, and as a result of such conditions the game must decrease in numbers, even in the absence of any shooting. It survives with difficulty if it survives at all. The birds which survive often change their habits and become extremely wary, and they may, in time, show an increase, since it is a diffi- cult matter absolutely to destroy any species. Ruffed grouse and quail have responded to laws prohibiting shooting for a term of years, and they have increased in numbers in many localities, but not in all. It is evident that the laws cannot festore them in counties where they have become extinct. It also is evident that they must again become scarce when shooting is resumed. The THE NATURAL ENEMIES OF GAME 75 prairie grouse no longer occur in hundreds of counties where once they were tremendously abundant, and the wild ducks are never seen on thousands of ponds and small lakes and streams where the shooting was fine a few years ago. The wild ducks cannot nest and success- fully rear their young beside waters which are overrun with trespassers, and dogs, cats and rats, in addition to their natural enemies, which are sufficient to check their too rapid increase and to preserve nature’s balance. Even in Great Britain, where preserves are numerous, it has been found impossible to entirely exterminate ver- min, and a continual war is waged against game enemies. The idea that it is not necessary or desirable to exter- minate all vermin seems to be gaining ground. The Rev. H. A. Macpherson, a good game preserver and writer on field sports, has well said, “Vermin should not be ex- tirpated root and branch, but common sense requires that they should be kept within reasonable numerical limits.” Referring to a statement of an observer that he counted the remains of over thirty grouse under the branches of a large fir, which had been killed by a kite, Dr. Macpherson says: “Sorry should I be to do an in- jury to a British kite. But our personal feelings must not be:allowed to overpower our better judgment, and the preservation of rapacious birds, however desirable from a scientific or philosophical standpoint, possesses some distinct drawbacks for game preservers.” A good rule to follow is to control the natural ene- mies of game only when they appear to be doing serious damage. A hawk trap recently has’ been invented in England which captures the hawks alive. The hawks which do very little ‘damage and which are regarded as 76 THE NATURAL ENEMIES OF GAME beneficial birds can be released and the worst species destroyed. Mr. Owen Jones, gamekeeper, also refers several times to the growing sentiment in favor of the idea that vermin should not be too closely controlled. “T regret to say,” he observes, “that the last surviving pair of magpies in the locality where I was keepering were picked up by a keeper (not myself). Utterly to exterminate birds so handsome may save a trifle of game for the gun, but surely such extremes of preservation can only bring upon the perpetrators the derision and dis- gust of all sane people. A judicious thinning of hawks and magpies is quite enough to satisfy. the demands of any sportsman, and their extinction is bound to react to the detriment of the selfish few.” Mr. Jones makes a good point in favor of the egg stealing jay. No sane keeper, he says, would wish to be without a sprinkling of jays in his woods, for he has na more vigilant and useful sentinels. In a wood where there are jays, neither cat, nor fox, nor man, can stir without being spotted and proclaimed. Jays also take a somewhat uncalled for delight in mobbing a barn owl should it get abroad in the day time. Although Mr. Jones lost hundreds of eggs every year by rooks, and little pheasants on the rearing field had to be guarded constantly, he does not favor the extirpation of the rook. “TI love as much as anybody,” he says, “their cawing at the coming of Spring when the daisies open wide.” Mr. Jones also says: “Reviewing the vermin question as a whole—that is, first, What vermin prey largely on game? and, second, What creatures prey on it only occasionally ?—I admit that ‘there is much room THE NATURAL ENEMIES OF GAME 77 for improvement in the attitude of keepers. However, I am certain that since education means enlightenment and modern preservation and shooting demand keepers of better education than formerly, the time is not far dis- tant when all keepers will be men of education, /and, therefore, of enlightenment. In this way, and in no other, will come about a rational discrimination in the matter of creatures now so often slaughtered indiscrimi- nately as vermin. What the thinking keeper of today resents is that all keepers should be tarred with the sins of individuals, but so long as the world lasts gamekeep- ers will continue to complain that there is no visible end to the vermin, whether it be clothed in'feathers or fur.” I have quoted the observations of Dr. Macpherson and Mr. Jones at some length, since this matter of the control of vermin is of much importance in America just now, where many game preserves are springing into existence in every State in the Union. We may as well start right and learn to distinguish between the game enemies which should be controlled and those which are comparatively harmless. The reader should remémber, however, at all times that there is a difference in predaceous birds of the same species and that the same species may act differ- ently in different places or under different circumstances. I have shot certain hawks, which are regarded as more beneficial than harmful, when they were in the act of taking game birds, and Mr. Thompson, a skilled keeper, writing for The Amateur Sportsman,* tells of perform- ances of the little sparrow hawk on his rearing field near Chicago, Illinois, which would warrant the control of this bird in the way he describes.. *The Amateur Sportsman, June, 1910. XI WINGED ENEMIES OF WILD FOWL ILD ducks have many natural enemies, and in populous regions certain domestic enemies are added which are sufficient to upset nature’s balance and to prevent an increase of the fowl, even in places where shooting is prohibited. The enemies of wild fowl may be classified as winged enemies and ground, or furry, enemies. The winged enemies are the duck hawk and certain other hawks, eagles, crows, owls, gulls, herons, jays, magpies and sparrows. Mr. Thompson, a capable gamekeeper, men- tions the red-headed woodpecker as an enemy of ducks and says: “I have shot this thief as he carried the egg of a wood-duck over my head, and I have seen him even rob the chicken coop.”* It seems doubtful, however, if the woodpecker would do much harm, and since it is a useful and interesting bird I would not advise its de- struction unless it appeared to be overabundant and was observed to do much damage. Some of the other winged enemies of game, also, are useful and beneficial birds, and the game preserver al- ways should bear in mind, as I have observed, the fact *The Amateur Sportsman, 1910. 18 WINGED ENEMIES OF WILD FOWL 79 that it is not necessary or desirable to destroy them all. They should be controlled only so far as is necessary to permit the game to increase in numbers rapidly. In some places certain feathered enemies of game are not sufficiently plentiful to require much attention. Pre- daceous birds, however, are known to gather where food is abundant, and gamekeepers should not be prevented by law from controlling them when it be- comes necessary to save the game birds on the rearing grounds. The Eagle—This magnificent bird of prey has been so nearly extirpated in the Eastern States that he does very little damage, and in places where it is rare no one should think of killing it, unless it does much damage. I would be inclined to let an eagle have a number of ducks, and I may say as much for several other pre- datory creatures when they are not numerous enough to do a great amount of harm. I saw an eagle not long ago which was killed by the gamekeeper on a New Jersey preserve when it attempted to take his ducks, and on an adjoining preserve the gamekeeper has a mounted eagle in his cottage which he shot when it was preying upon his pheasants. In certain parts of the West eagles are fairly abundant, and a number of eables should not be tolerated in the vicinity of a duck pond any more than a pack of wolves should be tolerated in a sheep fold. Laws intended to protect vermin for sentimental or for economic reasons should not apply, as I have said often, to the breeders or preservers of game. In most parts of its range the bald eagle feeds more largely on water fowl than on any other kind of birds. 80 WINGED ENEMIES OF WILD FOWL In the pursuit of this game this eagle employs great strength and skill, to which it frequently adds no small amount of strategy. Geese, brant and swans, owing apparently to their large size, are its favorite food.* Mr. William Brewster says geese and brant form the favorite food of the eagle, and the address displayed in their capture is very remarkable. The poor victim has apparently not the slightest chance for escape. The eagle’s flight, ordinarily slow and somewhat heavy, be- comes, in the excitement of pursuit, exceedingly swift and graceful, and the fugitive is quickly overtaken. When close upon its quarry the eagle suddenly sweeps beneath it, and, turning back downward, thrusts its powerful talons up into its breast. A brant or duck is carried off bodily to the nearest marsh or sandbar, but a Canada goose is too heavy to be thus éasily disposed of. The "two great birds fall together to the water beneath, where the eagle literally tows his prize along the surface until the shore is reached. . . . The royal bird seems to find little difficulty in overhauling the swiftest flying ducks. The eagles are said to be numerous on the Atlantic coast near Cape Charles in the Winter. Mr. Nathan Cobb informed Mr. Brewster that on several occasions he had seen as many as eight at onée. The gray sea eagle, about the same size as the bald eagle, is also fond of wild fowl, but in America it occurs only in Greenland, on the shores of the Cumberland Sound and on the Aleutian Islands.f The golden eagle, often called the mountain eagle, is . *«“The N. Am. Eagles.” Bulletin 27, Biological Survey, U. 8. Dept. Agr. tBulletin 27, Biological Survey, U. S. Dept. Agr. EGG-STEALING CROW From a Copyrighted Photograph Sent to The Amateur Sportsman by Anson O. Howard. WINGED ENEMIES OF WILD FOWL 81 found chiefly in the Western and North Western parts of the United States. It takes many rabbits and upland birds, especially sage grouse and sharp-tailed grouse, but it does not seem to take so many ducks and other wild fowl as the bald eagle, probably because the ducks are not so abundant in the mountainous regions it prefers. Mr. R. MacFarlane, however, mentions ducks as a part of the regular food of this eagle in the region of the Anderson River, Mackenzie, and Mr. L. M. Turner makes a similar statement regarding the coast of Alaska.* The Crow—lI am strongly inclined to regard the crow as one of the worst winged enemies of the wild ducks in places where crows are abundant. This wary bird has become superabundant in many places since the game has decreased while the crow has increased in numbers. Crows destroy both the eggs and the young birds. All of the gamekeepers regard them as very destructive. The crow has been observed in the New York Zoological Park taking young ducks, and on many farms he has been seen to take the eggs and young of poultry. Mr. Price, at the Fells reservation, in Massachusetts, raises both wild and domesticated ducks. He says the crows took five out of seven young ducks in one day. In June about one hundred mallards were turned out ona small pond. Ducks lay their eggs very early in the morning, and every morning crows were seen carrying off eggs. Mr. Price says they took about fifty each week, carrying off altogether from eight hundred to one thou- sand eggs during the season, taking about all the eggs laid by the ducks. Crows are attracted by game when it “sBulletin 27, Biological Survey, U. 8. Dept. Agr. 82 WINGED ENEMIES OF WILD FOWL is plentiful, and a gamekeeper at the Illinois game farm killed 2,410 crows in one season. The crow destroys. the nests and young of all birds, including wild turkeys, and the evidence against him is conclusive. The reader who wishes to pursue the sub- ject will find it fully discussed in an article on the crow in The Amateur Sportsman for March, 1910, where the picture here reproduced and some others were first pub- lished.* Various methods are used to control the crows. They can be decoyed by the use of crow calls and shot, and some keepers are very expert in imitating their cawing without the aid of an artificial call. I saw the keeper on a North Carolina preserve call crows from a great dis- tance and shoot them from his ambush behind a little cedar tree. ; . They are attracted by a stuffed owl, “the bugaboo” of birds, placed on a pole or tree, and an owl especially made for this purpose, which flaps its wings and turns its head when a string is pulled, proves very deadly to all feathered enemies of game, provided the gunner be a good shot and well concealed. These decoy owls can be purchased from Von Lengerke & Detmold, of Fifth Avenue, New York, and the price is $25. Mr. Thompson says: “Crows are very destructive to the eggs and young of almost every species of game, and constant war must be waged all the year around if the game is to be saved. Crows are especially fond of young ducklings, and where these are raised on the farm means for their protection must be devised. The best method of *The photographs which are copyrighted were sent by Mr. Anson QO. Howard of Massachusetts. DECOY OWL Photograph by Justus Von Lengerke WINGED ENEMIES OF WILD FOWL 83 protection is to kill the crows. There are many methods of doing this. Poisoned entrails and poisoned eggs can be used to advantage, where this is lawful, and trapping can be done to baits as described for hawks. Trapping in the snow by means of blood spilled on the snow and a steel trap placed nearby, destroying the nests in the breeding season, waiting for the crows with shotguns as they come in to roost, all are effective methods of destruction. The watchword when crows are about is, keep killing them, especially where the flocks run up into the thou- sands.” The crow does a good part of his nefarious work very early in the morning, when he seems to know that peo- ple are abed. His hunt at such times is a still hunt, and he comes close to buildings where he would not venture later in the day.2, Mr. Judd describes a crow which came daily into a barnyard and sat on a fence, evidently wait- ing until a hen had laid an egg, when at once he made off with it. The Hawks.—It is admitted that there are good and bad hawks, but even some of the good ones will require watching, since they readily acquire a fondness for game and eggs when they are abundant and easily obtained. The worst enemy of the ducks among the hawks is un- doubtedly the Peregrine falcon, or duck hawk. This bird, like some other hawks, seems to hunt for pleasure and often kills more ducks than it can eat. I have shot them on many marshes where they were thus engaged. Upon one occasion Mr. George Shiras, 3d, went with me to the preserve of the Ottawa Club, near 1The Amateur Sportsman, June, 1910. 2Ib. March, 1910. 3 Bulletin, “Birds of a Maryland Farm.” U.S. Dept. Agr. ‘ 84 WINGED ENEMIES OF WILD FOWL Sandusky, Ohio, before the season opened, to make some photographs of wild ducks. He had placed a number of wooden decoys before his blind when a hawk struck one of them and carried it some distance from the water. Mr. Shiras had two cameras and secured a picture of the hawk:as it struck. He tried for another picture as the bird soared aloft carrying the décoy, with its weight hanging down, but his aim was bad, and the hawk did not appear on the plate. When I examined the decoy I observed that the hawk’s talons had been sunk deeply into the wood. The hawks can be controlled by shooting them from ambush, and many can be killed by steel traps placed on poles. On some preserves very small poles are used, and. these are stood in pieces of drain tile inserted in the ground. The pole when so arranged easily can be taken down to set the trap. One preserver informed me that he stood his poles up against the fences. On one occasion, on a Western marsh, a hawk was ob- served to follow a flock of teal and strike down three of them in succession. He was hunting wantonly and flew away without stopping to eat one of the ducks. . When ducks are breeding wild in the marshes they are comparatively secure from many dangerous hawks which are not often seen in such places, but when the ducks are reared on farms the hawks which are injurious to poul- try must be controlled. The worst hawks undoubtedly -are the Goshawk, Cooper’s hawk and Sharp Shinned hawk, but the hawks which are regarded as more bene- ficial than harmful should be observed, and when they gather in large numbers or when a single hawk persists in taking many young ducks it should be destroyed, of WINGED ENEMIES OF WILD FOWL 85 course, if the owner of the place prefers ducks to hawks.1 Dr. Field, chairman of the Massachusetts Commission of Fisheries and Game, says that the marsh hawk is very destructive to the grouse on Martha’s Vineyard. The reader will find the hawks discussed at length in a bulletin issued by the United States Department of Agriculture,? but in reading it he should remember that the conclusions stated are founded largely upon stomach examinations and that such evidence is not always re- liable. Since game is everywhere very scarce no doubt many of the specimens examined had no chance to eat game, and it does not follow that any of the hawks would not take young ducks or other game in places where the game was abundant. The safe rule is to observe what the hawks are doing on the rearing field and to act ac- cordingly. _Gulls—Some gulls undoubtedly take eggs and young ducks, but all gulls, even in the same flock, it is claimed, are not equally bad. A gamekeeper on an English pre- serve, who observed that gulls were destroying his ducks, killed the pair which were thus engaged, and he is re- ported to have said that the other gulls did no harm thereafter. The Rev. H. A. Macpherson says some gulls are very destructive to grouse as well as to ducks. “The lesser black-backed gull,” he says, “is a shameless gourmand and does a great amount of mischief. He likes the young 1 The marsh hawk is classed as a beneficial hawk by ornithologists, but I shot one which had a quail in its talons as it flew overhead, and Audubon says when impelled by hunger it will attack partridges, plov- ers and teal. It should be killed only when it appears to be preying on game. 2 “Hawks and Owls.” Bulletin, U. S. Dept. Agr. 86 WINGED ENEMIES OF WILD FOWL wild ducks bettér than the tiny grouse, but nothing seems to come amiss to his hungry maw. It occasionally hap- pens that an old herring gull takes to felonious practices. They suck poisoned eggs eagerly, and I have seen indi- vidual birds beating the hill day after day searching for grouse nests. I have also known the herring gull to carry off young chickens from a cottage door.”* The Owls—The great horned owl and the snowy owl are the enemies of game birds and poultry, and where ducks are reared near woods they no doubt would take some of them. The owls are not abundant, however,- in most places, and the game preserver has little to fear on their account. They are interesting birds, and I would. hesitate to destroy them unless it clearly appeared that they were doing much harm. The only owl which visited me when I made my experiments with wild ducks was the little screech owl, and I had no losses due to owls. John Burroughs calls the owl the bugaboo of birds, and there can be no doubt that he creates a great dis- turbance whenever he appears. The reader will find the merits: and demerits of owls fully discussed in the bul- letin’on “Hawks and Owls” issued by the United States Department of Agriculture, but, since some of the speci- mens were taken in places where there was no game for them to eat, the evidence, which was based on stomach examinations, is not conclusive, as I have suggested. Mr. Forbush, also, has well said such examinations repre- sent only one meal. English Sparrows——The sparrows are a nuisance on the game preserve, since when they are abundant they *“The Grouse.” By H. A. Macpherson and others. Longmans, Green & Co. GOOD BAG OF CROWS SHOT OVER A DECOY OWL Photograph by Justus Von Lengerke WINGED ENEMIES OF WILD FOWL 87 devour much food which is intended for the game. They have been known to destroy the eggs of wild ducks, and they undoubtedly drive many desirable small birds away. They easily can be shot and trapped, and their nests should be destroyed as soon as made. The Magpie—The magpie *n the West and in parts of British America is an enemy of game which should be controlled closely. One of my correspondents writes that in Washington (State) he has known the magpie to destroy the nests of the prairie grouse. I have had other reports about the damage done by these birds in the West and in some of the Canadian Provinces. The heron is said to desttoy young ducks in England, but I have no reports about this bird in America. When visiting a duck preserve in New Jersey I heard a shot fired and saw the gunner across the pond. I asked the gamekeeper what was shot, and he said it was a crane, and added that its mate had killed several ducks and was in the act of killing one when he shot it. I regret that I did not see the bird, since the crane is a rare visitor in New Jersey. Probably it was a heron. The Jay.—This bird, as I have observed, is beneficial to gamekeepers. It undoubtedly is an egg stealer, but probably it takes the eggs of small birds for the most part. Jays should not be permitted to become over- abundant, since it is desirable to preserve the smaller song and insectivorous birds on the farms included in a preserve, as elsewhere. XII THE GROUND AND WATER ENEMIES OF WILD FOWL HE principal ground enemies of game birds are: Foxes, wolves, minks, weasels, skunks, raccoons, squirrels, snakes and moles. In settled regions roving dogs, cats and rats are added to the list, and these become often the worst enemies of wild fowl. In addition to the enemies named, frogs, turtles and certain fish also are known to take young ducks. Mr. Robert B. Lawrence told me that a frog in his brother’s duck pond was killed which had devoured a young sprig-tailed duck, and since many young wood- duck had disappeared, unaccountably, he believed the frogs had eaten them. A correspondent of The American Field confirms the destructive propensities of the bull- frog. “We had,” he says, “quite a number of tame mal- lard ducks, which hatched their eggs in the woods, and the first we saw of their young was in the water with their mothers. We noticed the number of the ducklings decreased quite rapidly and found on investigation that when they got near the shores, one after another were pulled under the water by large frogs, which drowned and then swallowed them. To preserve them, whenever 88 A SCARB-FOX The Scare-fox has shutters which are run by clockwork so as to fall every ten minutes, causing the light to flash in three directions. GROUND AND WATER ENEMIES 89 we saw a new brood on the water, we captured and kept them in the chicken yard until they were quite large enough to care for themselves.” Pike also take young ducks, and turtles, where they are abundant, are a serious check to the increase of ducks. The Fox—In places where foxes are numerous un- doubtedly they destroy many game birds as well as poul- try. Mr. F. E. R. Fryer, an English authority on game preserving, says: “Although I am of the opinion that in the long run it is best not to attempt game preserving on a large scale in a fox-hunting county, just as I think it is a mistake to try to start a pack of hounds in a good partridge county, a few hints as to the best way to pro- tect the partridge from the fox may be of interest to some, who, though all in favor of fox-hunting, like occa- sionally to take a gun out.” Mr. Fryer insists that it is necessary to have a good keeper to control foxes and that he must know every nest and endeavor to prevent them getting at it. The rearing field for ducks should be wired, and traps for foxes should be distributed liberally outside the wire and in all likely places. Dogs on the preserve are useful to keep foxes away, and where foxes are numerous they should be hunted with hounds and destroyed. The game- keeper does not hesitate to shoot a fox, in America, but in England often he is ordered to preserve the foxes, and in fox-hunting counties the gamekeeper’s work is more difficult than it is in places where foxes are -controlled. An abundance of rabbits is desirable, since foxes are fond of them and find them easier to catch than game birds are. Owen Jones calls rabbits the fox’s bread and 90 GROUND AND WATER ENEMIES butter, and adds, “It would be a sorry prospect for keep- ers, game and foxes if rabbits were exterminated, for they are the buffers of peace in the community of the woods.” Wild ducks are in little, if any, danger from foxes, when they are taken to the pond, and a low wire such as is pictured in the illustrations of ducks on the water seems to afford protection from many kinds of ground vermin. Anything attempting to get over the wire easily is seen or heard, and the ducks can take wing or swim out of danger. Islands in the ponds are very desirable, as I have observed. They are safe refuges for the ducks from many kinds of vermin, including cats. Wolves—With the exception of the coyote, wolves are unknown in places where ducks are preserved or where they are likely to be preserved before the wolves are ex- tirpated. I have seen the sly coyote hunting ducks about the reedy banks of a Western pond, and once I stopped one just as he was about to pounce on some young mal- lards. Where coyotes occur they should be poisoned, shot, trapped or otherwise controlled, and the nesting and rearing fields of the ducks should be wired against them. : Minks and Weasels—Both the mink and the weasel are difficult enemies to deal with. These animals seem to hunt wantonly, and they destroy more than they can eat. The mink has been known to kill more than fifty fowls in a night. Winged vermin is easily seen, and on this account it is more easily controlled. But the mink and the weasel, like other furry vermin, are seldom seen, and often they are hard to exterminate. A good game- keeper quickly will detect their presence, and he should GROUND AND WATER ENEMIES 91 know how to trap them. They are taken with common steel traps. Minks can be hunted with a good dog, and I read an account not long ago of a Western hunter who found them in the sloughs with the aid of a halfbreed . pointer trained to hunt them. The Raccoon—Mr. S. Evans, the father of the pro- prietor of the Wallace Evans Game Farm, told me that the “‘coons” were sometimes a pest. They succeeded in destroying young ducks on the game farm notwithstand- ing the fact that the place is heavily trapped and guarded’ by competent keepers. The Skunk—tThe naturalists regard the skunk as a beneficial animal, and I doubt much if it destroys as many eggs and young birds as some people think it does. There can be no doubt, however, that sometimes it takes the eggs and young of game birds, and it seems likely it might develop a decided taste for them in places where such food was abundant and easily procured. Skunks are easily trapped and shot, and a good gamekeeper should have little difficulty in keeping them down when they are observed to be harmful. Snakes—Both the rattlesnake and the blacksnake have been known to take quail and their eggs, and I have no doubt they would take young ducks. It is not a difficult matter, however, to keep snakes out of a well wired rear- ing and breeding field, and easily they are destroyed with the aid of a terrier in places where the cover is not too,heavy. A gamekeeper once gave me an amus- ing account of the killing of a blacksnake by one of his terriers. The Mole—The late Mr. C. J. Cornish, in Shooting, says: “I remember a case in which a mole made its run . 92 GROUND AND WATER ENEMIES through the bottom of a nest (a very frequent cause of mischief where nests are not known of and looked at periodically). A good number of the eggs had disap- peared down the hole, and after various attempts to stop the run had failed, I moved the nest over a yard away without the removal having any apparent effect on the bird” (the gray partridge). Turtles—Where turtles are abundant they are among the worst enemies of young ducks. They are difficult to control on large waters, but they are easily removed from small waters. Many turtles can be shot, both in the wa- ter and on the banks, and they can be captured in various ways with nets and baits. It is highly important to ex- tirpate them when they are observed to be feeding on young water fowl. Pike and pickerel are known to take small ducks, and these fish should be removed from the ponds where the young ducks are reared. The muskrat has been considered an enemy of ducks, but most sportsmen and naturalists are of the opinion that this interesting animal ‘does little, if any, harm on the duck preserve. The fact that ducks often are seen swimming about in places where muskrats abound would seem to indicate that they are not alarmed and that they do not regard the muskrats as their enemies. This sub- ject was fully discussed in The Amateur Sportsman for March, 1909. The evidence there presented is decidedly in favor of the muskrat: The muskrat might be made profitable on some duck preserves. In settled regions many of the natural enemies of game, with the exception of crows and certain hawks, often are not sufficiently abundant to do much damage, GROUND AND WATER ENEMIES 93 and where they are few it does not seem wise to destroy them, excepting, of course, where they are observed to be doing serious damage. A mink or weasel which de- stroys a large number of ducks should be hunted down and killed at any season of the year. The gamekeeper and not a State game warden should decide the matter on private lands. Where the natural enemies of game are few the do- mestic enemies often are very numerous and destructive. The cats are noted bird hunters; the dogs are fond of chasing birds and prevent their nesting; the rats eat not only young birds, but also the eggs. I have been sur- prised, when visiting American game preserves, to learn of the numbers of cats destroyed by the gamekeepers. In many places throughout America the cats are suffi- ciently abundant, undoubtedly, to prevent the wild ducks from nesting and rearing their young, even if the birds were not persistently shot by people living in the vicinity of the ponds and lakes. The cats seem to be increasing in many places, and many annually are turned down to shift for themselves, and quickly they become wild. They are skillful in taking birds. It is not a very difficult matter for a gamekeeper to contro# the cats, since they are easily discovered and shot as they prowl about. They can be trapped with steel traps and hunted with terriers. I have seen a terrier make short work of killing a cat, and the terriers are useful dogs on the preserve, since they will destroy other ground vermin. Some cats can be taught not to kill birds, and I have seen cats at gamekeepers’ houses which walked about among the young pheasants and ducks without causing 94 GROUND AND WATER ENEMIES any alarm. The gamekeeper quickly would destroy his cat and replace it with another if it exhibited any disposition to eat birds. Good cats I regard as ex- ceptional. All the cats I have ever owned destroyed birds daily. Rats undoubtedly are among the worst enemies of ducks. Captain Oates says they are the worst. He took sixteen wild duck eggs from one rat hole. Fryer disposes of rats in five words, “Rats must be cleared out.”2. The common brown rat was introduced in America about the year 1775, and despite the incessant warfare of man, it has extended its range and steadily increased in numbers. Its dominance is due to its great fecundity and its ability to adapt itself to all sorts of conditions. A compilation of all the methods of destroying rats prac- ticed in historic times would fill a volume. One of the most effective poisons for rats is barium carbonate, or bayrites.? Mr. Lantz, who prepared the bulletin cited, says the improved traps with a wire fall released by a baited trig- ger and driven by a coiled spring (sometimes called guil- lotine traps) have a marked advantage over the old forms, and many of them may be used at the sarne time. The traps should be baited with small pieces of Vienna sausage (wienerwurst) or bacon. Mr. Lantz, in a second bulletin prepared for the Bio- logical Survey, United States Department of Agricul- 1 “Wild Ducks.” 2 “Country Life Lib. Sport, Vol. I., Shooting, p. 135. 3 “Methods of Destroying Rats.” Farmers’ Bulletin 297, U. S. Dept. Agr. This bulletin can be had upon application to the U. S. Agricul- tural Department, Washington, D. C. be done by hedgehog, weasels or stoats. GROUND AND WATER ENEMIES 95 ture,! says: “The rat is a most serious pest in game pre- serves. The propagation of game birds, both native and introduced, is now a promising industry in the United States. The rat has already proved itself a foe by de- stroying both eggs and young of pheasants. Abroad, the game preserver regards the rat as the worst enemy of game. A writer in Chambers’ Journal says, ‘In a closely preserved country at the end of an average year the game suffers more from the outlying rats of the lord- ship than from the foxes and the mustelines together. The solitary rats, whether males or females, are the curse of a game country. They are most difficult to detect, for in a majority of cases their special work is supposed to 292 The late Mr. William Carnegie (“Moorman”), one of the most distinguished sporting writers, who at the time of his death was the English correspondent of The Ama- teur Sportsman, says in his work on “Game Preserving :” “There is little doubt that of late years the worst vermin with which the generality of preservers have had to con- tend has been the rat. It has increased largely in num- bers and in some districts become quite a plague, despite the extraordinary efforts made to deal with its ever- increasing depredations. It is unnecessary to speculate upon the probable cause of this remarkable increase. It is due entirely to the neglect of farmers, preservers and others to adopt adequate means to deal with the pest.”* Mr. Lantz says our native game birds in the wild state are less subject to rat depredations than imported species. 1 “The Brown Rat in the United States.” By David BD. Lanty. Bul- letin 33, Biological Survey, U. S. Dept. Agr. 2 Chambers’ Journal, Vol. 82, p. 64, January, 1905. *“Practical Game Preserving.” By William Carnegie, p. 349. 96 GROUND AND WATER ENEMIES The nests of ruffed grouse are made in the woodlands, which rats seldom invade. The prairie hen and related species generally nest in places remote from the usual haunts of rats. The quail, or Bob White, however, often selects a nesting site within the Summer range of rats, and many a quail’s egg reaches the maws of these ani-+* mals. Nests of wild ducks, woodcock and other marsh birds are frequently destroyed by rats. Ferrets and dogs are very useful in controlling them. Mr. J. C. O’Conor informed me that they were overrun with rats at a preserve in which he is interested, in Vir- ginia, but that they succeeded in controlling them by the use of terriers and traps. Roving dogs alarm the nesting birds and often chase and kill them. Some dogs are fond of eggs. Ducks can- not be expected to nest in a place where they are annoyed by dogs. It is not a difficult matter to shoot a worthless dog when he visits a preserve, but valuable dogs should, of course, be caught and held for their owners. One of the worst fish enemies of ducks is the carp, not because it destroys the birds, but because it destroys. their food—the wild rice and other aquatic plants. On the marshes owned by the Winous Point Club and by the Ottawa Club, near Port Clinton, Ohio, and in many other places, the carp have practically destroyed the wild rice which a few years ago furnished an abundance of food for countless numbers of wild fowl. The number of ducks which nest in these marshes or which visit them on their migration has been sadly decreased. The carp destroy the plants by rooting them up, and in some places the ducks have been forced to abandon + the waters where the carp have become abundant. fi XITI AMERICAN DUCK CLUBS EARLY all of the best marshes and the desirable lands about the ponds and lakes in the United States which are frequented by wild fowl during their migrations now are owned or leased by individuals and clubs. ; The best shooting points about the Chesapeake Bay and on the outlying beaches also are controlled in the same way, and the number of duck clubs is increasing rapidly. For a time the shares in these clubs became more and more valuable as the years passed, until shares which cost a few hundred dollars or less when they were issued easily were sold for from $1,000 to $5,000 and per- haps more. The diminution of the flight, due to the de- crease in the numbers of the ducks, has caused a decline in the value of the shares in some of the duck clubs, and in some instances the decline in value has been rapid. The marshes about the great lakes in the United States and Canada are owned and controlled by many clubs. The center of abundance of these clubs is from Sandusky Westward and around the Western end of Lake Erie to the St. Clair Flats, where there are excellent duck clubs, both in the United States and in Canada, 97 98 AMERICAN DUCK CLUBS The ducks were so abundant a few years ago that no effort was made to increase their numbers or to control their natural enemies. The shooting was kept up late in the Spring, after the ducks had mated and when many of them would have remained to nest, undoubtedly, had they been given a chance to do so. As long as the ducks were abundant the necessity for looking after them and increasing their numbers did not occur to‘anyone. There are many small ponds on these club grounds which have desirable fields adjacent where the artificial rearing of ducks could be carried on to great advantage. Thousands of ducks could be produced every Spring at a very small expense, since they could be liberated when a few weeks old, and they would find most of their food in the marshes. The vanishing wood-duck, the teal and other fowl could be made to provide excellent shooting by the end of August and long before any migratory birds arrive from the North. At the time of my visit to the Lake Erie group of clubs I observed that some of the natural enemies of the game were abundant. Hawks were often seen in the air, and on one occasion a hawk alighted on the head of a punter who sat motionless in the grass, the bird mistaking his old gray hat for a stump, no doubt.’ There were many’ rattlesnakes on the preserves of the Ottawa and Winous Point Clubs, and one of them crawled up on a log where I was seated sketching one day and coiled itself up be- side me. I was somewhat alarmed when I discovered it, but easily killed it. The unfortunate introduction of the carp has destroyed miles of splendid food—the wild rice—and Mr. Chamber- lain, the Secretary of the Ottawa Club, recently wrote me BLUEBILL SHOT AND PHOTOGRAPHED BY BONNYCASTLE DALE AMERICAN DUCK CLUBS 99 that they were now feeding tons of grain in the effort to induce the ducks to remain during the shooting season. It should not be a very difficult matter to wire some of the desirable ponds against the carp and to destroy all of those within the protected territory, when the wild rice could be restored, and soon it would grow as luxuri- antly as it formerly did. There are many duck clubs in the vicinity of Chicago and Northward at Fox Lake and other desirable places. The whole vast region along the Illinois River in the vicinity of Peoria and Havana is occupied, and there are hundreds of clubs about the marshy lakes of the Western and North Western States. On the Pacific coast the duck clubs already are numerous in Oregon and Wash- ington and abundant in California from the vicinity of Sacramento South to Los Angeles, where there are lit- erally miles of clubs. There are a few clubs about the great reservoirs in Ohio, and there are many clubs in New England, es- pecially in Massachusetts. ' Along the Atlantic coast there are many insular clubs, which own for the most part the islands where their club houses are erected. The Princess Anne, thé Ragged Island and the Back Bay Clubs, a short distance from Norfolk, Virginia, mark the beginning of a long line of clubs (most of which have fine club houses), which extends Southward through Currituck Sound to the waters of the Albemarle and Pamlico. Many men act as guards to keep out poachers. To the Southward there are many more clubs, notably those about the mouth of the Santee, in South Carolina, and the number is increasing. 100 AMERICAN DUCK CLUBS The amount of money invested in lands, buildings and boats, including power launches and yachts, is tremen- dous, and the many thousands of gunners who own shares in these clubs should take notice of the fact that the wild fowl must decrease in numbers when their Northern nesting grounds are destroyed and that it seems certain that the ducks will visit the club marshes in much smaller numbers than they now do, provided the shoot- ing continues to increase and nothing be done to cause an increase in the numbers of the game. All of these club men, whose properties are situated to the Eastward of the Rocky Mountains, should take an interest, as I have said, in the “wild ducks’ paradise,” and they should endeavor to so arrange mat- ters that the Northern breeding grounds be not all de- stroyed. Some vast parks, containing miles of sloughs and ponds, should be set aside as duck refuges in “the ducks’ paradise,” just as the parks and big game refuges have been created for the deer and elk in the Western States. I believe this matter can be arranged easily and that it will be before long. I suggested the setting aside of some refuges for ducks (in “Our Feathered Game”), and some of the places I named have since been made national bird parks.* But this is not enough. The inhabitants of “the wild ducks’ paradise” should be taught that it will pay not to drain many of-the sloughs and ponds and that they can be profitably used as breeding places for the ducks. The people should be encouraged to properly look after the wild fowl on these famous breeding *Stump Lake, N. Dak., is one of the most important wild duck refuges. See Our Feathered Game, p. 33. ° AMERICAN DUCK CLUBS 101 grounds and to sell them alive for propagation and as food in the markets. The duck clubs must learn, also, that they should create as well as destroy on their own marshes and that it is necessary to create before an army of guns can safely shoot any species of game in large numbers. The employment of a few skilled gamekeepers, or even of natives living in the vicinity who know the habits of the furry and winged enemies of game and how to trap and shoot them, would be followed by a decided increase in the numbers of the game. This is especially true pro- vided the shooting be discontinued at the end of Feb- ruary or early in March and even before those dates on certain ponds which should be set aside for breeding places. It would be interesting and profitable also, at the Northern clubs at least, to undertake the hand-rearing of fowl on a large scale, and some species—the wood- duck, the Florida dusky duck, the mallard, the blue- winged teal and some others—could be propagated, no doubt, in large numbers in the South. I have seen the mallard breeding in the care of a gamekeeper as far South as North Carolina. The duck clubs which may undertake to increase the ducks (I am pleased to observe that some recently have done so) should be encouraged by legislation, as I have often pointed out. They should be classed as breeders and permitted to regulate their shooting during a long open season, without State interference, and they should be permitted to sell some of the game alive for propaga- tion or as food in the markets, under State regulation and to licensed dealers, of course. 102 AMERICAN DUCK CLUBS In some places, notably in Illinois and California, a prejudice has existed against the owners of duck marshes. Those who have not secured ducking grounds often look with envious eyes upon those who are more fortunate. In the States named there has been much ill feeling in certain localities, and near Chicago some years ago this resulted in rioting and bloodshed on the grounds of the Tolleston Club. The marshes which were a bone of con- tention since have been drained and built up, and, of course, there is no shooting for anybody. Those who are hostile to the duck clubs should remember that the chances are that the grounds occupied by the clubs will be drained before they are opened to the public. Common sense must regulate this matter eventually, and I am pleased to observe that the prejudice against those who preserve the ducks has disappeared in many regions. The courts have held, uniformly, that the own- ers of marshes have the right to exclude trespassers. In some of the States ponds which contain over ten or fifteen acres are held to be public waters, but they are of little value to the public for duck shooting, since the whole neighborhood would rise up in arms if a duck ven- tured to alight on a public pond in a settled region. It is, of course, an easy matter to scare wild fowl away from such places. It would be far better if the game protec- tive associations would devise some means for stocking such places with fowl and for regulating the public shoot- ing so as not to drive the birds away. The lands about most of the ponds, however, are owned by individuals and not by the State, and in no State can trespassers shoot on inclosed and cultivated lands if the owner ob- jects. AMERICAN DUCK CLUBS 103 It is nonsense to say that the trespass laws should not be enforced or that they should be repealed. The owners of farms and cattle ranches in the West have the right to prevent the introduction of buffalo as “State” game. The farmers have prevented the introduction of “State” pheasants in some places, and the owners of duck lands prevent trespass. The State can provide public parks for public shoot- ing, but, as I have insisted often, it cannot license gun- ners to shoot up the farms or other lands owned by indi- viduals who object to trespassers. The duck clubs can do much to overcome the foolish prejudice which exists against them in some localities if they will become breeders of wild fowl and will purchase stock birds and eggs and undertake the artificial produc- tion of game of all sorts. If they will sell some of the game produced, so that the markets are fully supplied with game during a long open season, the people soon will uphold them, since they will appear to be beneficial to others besides themselves. “Shooters who do nothing towards breeding game soon will find the shooting on public waters much improved, and all controversy should come to an end. Mr. Frank Bonnett in a series of articles written for The Amateur Sportsman on “English Game Preserving,” described the formation of a shooting club, or a syndicate, at they say in England, and gave the figures, showing that it does not cost much to have good shooting in Eng- land, where lands and shooting rentals are many times higher than they are in America. I know some sportsmen who have fairly good shoot- ing in America at a cost of from $15 to $25 per gun, and 104 AMERICAN DUCK CLUBS they always will, unless those who are opposed to field sports succeed in prohibiting shooting at all times. There are many places in America where wild ducks can be introduced and made plentiful, and any persons who wish to have good shooting can do so at small ex- pense. The time has come to cease making new game laws in the hope of improving the sporting conditions and to do something towards restoring the game to the places where it no longer occurs. XIV TO FORM A DUCK CLUB, OR SYNDICATE HE necessity for the employment of a gamekeeper when the restoration, propagation and practical protection of wild fowl is undertaken in populous regions is evident. The most expensive items incident to the rearing of wild ducks for sport are the wages of the gamekeeper and the food for the ducks. The. shooting rental is a small item, comparatively, in America, since ground suitable for duck rearing can be rented for shoot- ing purposes for a few cents per acre.* When a farmer, or a sportsman residing in the country, undertakes to rear wild ducks and looks after them per- sonally, very good sport can be had at little or no ex- pense, because the sale of some of the ducks and eggs will pay the food bill, and, of course, there is no rent.t *The rentals paid for many upland preserves are from 5 to 10 cents per acre, or from $32 to $64 per square mile, per annum. Lands suitable for ducks which are only worth a few dollars per acre should be rented for less than the amounts n; “ned. 1Captain Oates says: “I am of the opinion that, provided a man feeds and looks after his ducks himself, is in possession of a supply of coops and runs, and is fortunate enough to have a suitable piece of water of his own, as well as a lot of ground to rear them on, that he can make his accounts balance at the end of the year. In other words, he will be able to give his friends some very enjoyable shooting, and supply him- self with a hobby of which he will never be tired at no expense to him- self.” “Wild Ducks.” By Captain W. Coape Oates. This valuable little 105 106 TO FORM A DUCK CLUB, ORSYNDICATE The game farmers who rear large numbers of wild ducks and other game birds and sell the birds and eggs to game preservers find the industry profitable, but an individual shoot, where a sportsman pays all of the ex- penses, including the salaries of gamekeepers, is too costly for the average gun, and for this reason clubs, or syndicates, as they are called in England, are formed in order that the members may have good shooting and divide the expenses. It is advantageous to have the cost of the shares and the annual dues small, so that desirable members of small means can be secured and practical game preserving can be made popular. The cost of conducting a duck shoot varies according to the location, and it would be impossible to give an es- timate of the expenses which would be found accurate everywhere. The best gamekeepers in America receive about $75 per month and their housé rent, which may be estimated roughly at $200 to $300 per year. The cost of the food for the ducks depends much upon the place selected, since grain is cheaper in some localities than it is in others. The cost of the food can be much reduced when the grain is raised on the preserve. A New York syndicate will propagate both wild ducks and upland game next season, and an accurate estimate of its receipts and a rough estimate of its expenses will be found in a note at the bottom of the following page. book can be procured from The Amateur Sportsman Co., Box 22, Grand Central, New York. Price $1.50. In support of the above statement, Captain Oates prints some figures based on the rearing of 250 ducks. The food for the ducklings is esti- mated at £16, or about $80. oAIUNO,) 91 UL adoagq daay o} puaz s}10dg plelt,, GAUYASHUd NVOMIGNY NV NO GDVELOO 8S. Waddawanvy) TO FORM A DUCK CLUB, OR SYNDICATE 107 I believe a full allowance has been made for most of the expense items and that some of the stock birds can be purchased at a lower price than is stated. The club may, also, decide to purchase some eggs and to save in other ways.* It is desirable to have at least 100 or 200 shares, in or- der that the dues may be small, but the number of guns that can be accommodated depends, of course, upon the size of the preserve. It is not a bad plan to fix the value of the shares at from $25 to $30 and to provide that mem- bers can own from one to twenty shares each, since those who can afford to contribute to practical game protection will take a number of shares, and the amount needed to pay the expenses of the shoot can be realized without - REcEIPTS FRoM SALE OF SHARES. 200 Shares at $30 each, $6,000. ESTIMATED EXPENSES OF PLANT AND ORGANIZATION. Hatching House and Breeding and Rearing Yards, $500; Extra Wire, $200; Coops, Setting Boxes, Tins, $250; Pheasant Pen, $200; Expenses of Securing Leases and of Organization, 500; Stock: Wild Turkeys, $150; Wild Ducks, $450; Pheasants or Hungarian Partridges, $300; Quail, $225; Rabbits, $45; 500 Hens, $180. Total, $3,000. Surplus in hands of Directors, $3,000. RECEIPTS. Annual Dues, $6,000. OPERATING EXPENSES (ESTIMATED.) Shooting Rent, 10,000 acres at 8c. per acre, $800; Wages of Gamekeeper, $1,000; Rent Keeper’s House, $300; Extra Labor, $1,200; Managing Director’s Salary and Expenses, $800; Food for Birds, $1,500. Total, $5,600. This syndicate hopes to rear from five to ten thousand birds (including birds breeding wild and in captivity) the first year. 108 TO FORM A DUCK CLUB, OR SYNDICATE having too many guns. The annual dues should be from $25 to $50 per annum. The syndicate to which I have referred was started with one subscription for twenty shares, and several of the members own from two to five shares each. The others pay $30 each for one share and $30 annual dues. If the shoot contains eight or ten thousand acres and is well watered a hundred members is not too many, since it is evident that some of the members will not shoot much or often, and there should be some “preferred stockholders,” as a friend of mine humorously terms those who pay their dues and do not shoot at all. It is not a difficult matter to secure preferred stock- holders, since men easily can be found who are willing to aid in the restoration and protection of our indigenous game birds provided they can have some of them for their tables. It is advisable to undertake the rearing of some upland game in addition to the wild ducks. Many sportsmen prefer to shoot over dogs. . Many species of upland birds will respond nicely to the control of vermin, and since the ducks nest early the gamekeeper can rear a lot of. upland birds in captivity after his ducks are well started, and he can give some attention to the quail and other birds nesting wild on the preserve. He will see that they are not destroyed by their enemies or by farm machinery. The first step in forming a game syndicate of any kind is to secure the signatures of the required number of members to a subscription contract. The simple form of contract used by the New York Game Breeders’ Asso- ciation is as follows: TO FORM A DUCK CLUB, OR SYNDICATE 109 In order to form a game syndicate to rent the shooting and propagate game on lands in the vicinity of New York: We, the undersigned, subscribe for the number of shares set opposite our names and agree to pay one-half of the amount when the board of management shall be chosen and the other half when called for by the board of directors. It is understood that the shares are to be $30.00 each and that the annual dues shall be $30.00 per share. The dues shall be payable in 1911 as called for by the board of directors. The syndicate may be formed and the board elected when 100 shares are subscribed. It-is proposed to have 200 shares; not more than 20 to be held by any one person. Name. Se len siete oahcreees caine No. of Shares A paragraph might well be added providing for the compensation of the person who secures the signatures and performs the work of organization, as follows: “It is understood that A. B , who has agreed to undertake the work of securing the signatures to this agreement, of organ- izing the syndicate and of procuring the shooting leases, shall receive for his services the sum of §................ for each share and his necessary traveling expenses.” Much time necessarily is consumed in explaining the objects of the association to those who are invited to be- come active or “preferred” stockholders and in securing the leases from the land owners and in explaining the - objects of the association to them, and it is fair that the person who undertakes this work should be paid. The work also will progress more rapidly if some one is thus employed than ‘it will otherwise. When the required number of shareholders have sub- scribed for the stock they should be notified to attend a meeting and elect a board of directors. Proxies should be secured from those who cannot attend the meeting. 110 TO FORM A DUCK CLUB, OR SYNDICATE If the club decides to purchase any land it should be incorporated. The board should be made up of from six to ten or more directors, and it should at once organize and elect its officers—a president, vice-president, secretary and treas- urer. The board should select an executive committee of. three members, and the chairman of this committee should be designated as the managing director. A simple. constitution providing for the officers and their duties should be adopted by the members, and the board should have the power to make rules to govern the shooting and the conduct of the members. The simplest form of constitution used by social clubs will answer every pur- pose. The managing director should recommend to the club the purchase of the stock birds and eggs and the appli- ances and foods and other things needed. He should visit the club grounds often and superintend the game- keeping and all work on the preserve, including . the planting of grain. He should recommend the employ- ment of additional labor and make reports to the board about the progress of the work. All expenditures of money should be advised by the executive committee be- - fore being acted upon by the board. The compensation of the managing director should be fixed by the board. The executive committee should receive their necessary expenses when visiting the preserve on business for the benefit of the association. The shooting leases should provide that'the exclusive right to shoot and fish on the lands and waters leased be granted to the club for a period of years. Five or ten years is the term often agreed upon. It is advisable that TO FORM A DUCK CLUB, OR SYNDICATE 111 the leases should contain a privilege of purchase at a fixed price. Often the land owners reserve the right to sell the land and to cancel the leases if a purchaser is se- cured. Where such provisions are incorporated in a lease the club should reserve the right to purchase at the price offered, and the owner should agree to first offer the land to the club. The leases often contain covenants that the farmers will prevent trespassers from trespassing, or aid the club in so doing, and that prosecutions for trespass may be conducted in the name of the land owner or in the name of the club. The leases often provide for the privilege of renewal at a fixed price. They should be recorded in States where the recording of leases for a term of years is required by law, and the lease should, of course, be drawn in corform- ance with the laws regulating conveyances, which vary in the different States. The form adopted should be ap- proved by a local attorney, who should act as the legal advisor of the syndicate. The publishers of The Amateur Sportsman have made arrangements to furnish information on all subjects re- lating to the organization of a game syndicate, including the forms for subscription contracts, the employment of gamekeepers, the selection of a site, the procuring of stock birds and eggs, and anyone interested in the sub- ject will receive a prompt answer to a letter requesting information about any of these subjects. In some localities the conditions are far more favorable for starting a game syndicate than they are in others, not only on account of the desirability of the ground, but also on account of the attitude of the residents towards those 112 TO FORM A DUCK CLUB, OR SYNDICATE who undertake to breed game. These are many matters which should be carefully considered before a game club is organized. The numerous game protective associations, which have been formed to procure game laws and to see that they are executed, might well favor game syndicates and undertake the practical increase of game in order to pro- vide good shooting for their members. The gun clubs, also, which are formed to provide shooting at inanimate targets, easily might become game clubs and provide good field shooting for their members. The “appetite for legislation’* in America nowhere is more enormous than it appears to be among those who are organized to restrict the taking of the wild food birds. As a result of this insatiate appetite North America has a thousand more game laws than any country which has game. Many ridiculous crimes have been created which do not rest on any legal principles, and the number of new laws and new crimes which annually are enacted and created is positively appalling. It will be found quite as easy for the trap shooters to have good duck shooting as it is for them to have good shooting at clay targets. The members of the protective associations will find it easier to secure good bird shoot- ing than it is to procure new game laws, and when the value of the meat secured is taken into consideration good sport appears to be within the means of anyone who is willing to do something practical. The trouble in America heretofore has been that there has been no knowledge of the subject. The “more game” *The Hon. Woodrow Wilson is reported to have coined this happy phrase. TO FORM A DUCK CLUB, OR SYNDICATE 113 clubs which are now being organized soon will be. able to furnish accurate figures as to the cost of good shoot- ing, and when the owners of game are permitted to sell some of the birds reared, during a long open season, I have no hesitation in saying that excellent duck shooting will cost little or nothing. The reader has observed, no doubt, that no provision is made for the expenses of a club house. These may be made to suit the members of a syndicate if a farm house be rented or if a club house be erected. The sportsmen who go to shoot on unpreserved marshes usually board at a country hotel or gunning house, and the members of a syndicate easily can arrange to put up at a country hotel in the vicinity of their shooting ground, provided it be impractical to go and return the same day. I visited a preserve near New York recently and saw some fine duck shooting. A good bag was made. The sportsmen all left the city at noon and returned within an hour after dark. The chief advantage of tooking after the game properly is that good shooting can be had in convenient locations where at present there is no game. Every game club, or syndicate, should keep a game reg- ister, in which should be entered the names of the various species of game and the number taken by each gun. Some of the clubs have the names of the game printed across the top of the page, and the names of the sportsmen are entered at the left hand side of the page, and the number of each species of game taken is placed under the printed heading designating the species. The form of game reg- ister used at some of the American duck clubs is printed in “Our Feathered Game.” XV THE RESTORATION OF WILD FOWL—LURING DUCKS AND GEESE NYONE who has traveled much must have observed that there are thousands of small ponds, lakes and streams in America where the wild ducks are seldom, if ever, seen. Many of these waters are attractive to fowl, since their natural foods are plentiful, and unattractive waters can be made attractive in the manner heretofore described. In the vicinity of the duck clubs often there are places where the ducks can be lured as described in this chapter, and sportsmen of small means easily can form syndicates, or clubs, and at a small expense per gun they can have good duck shooting during a long open season. It is necessary, of course, to employ a gamekeeper and to control the enemies of the ducks and to provide quiet nesting places where trespassers can- not enter to drive the ducks away. . The ducks from the club grounds as well as migratory ducks soon will visit such places, and the fowl easily may - be lured from the neighboring marshes. I wish to invite the reader’s attention especially to the fact that no one will be damaged, provided the ducks be lured and restored to places where they no longer occur and that the laws should favor such industry. 114 THE RESTORATION OF WILD FOWL 115 Mr. De Visme Shaw in discussing this subject says: “We now come to the question of luring wild duck to frequent a certain piece of water as a feeding spot and to afford sport at flight time. When practiced near a part of the coast or any inland district frequented by duck, the system I am about briefly to describe invariably com- mands success. “There must be a pond, either natural or artificial, to serve as the home of the decoy ducks. Though quite a small piece of water will answer the purpose in view, it is advisable that the pond be not less than a quarter of an acre in extent, while half an acre is better. A perfect pond can be made at small expense by cutting a pass athwart a marsh dyke. There should be some rough cover dotted around the water; the bank should shelve gently and should be of considerable area. It is here that corn is scattered, and it is one’s object to ensure that the decoy birds and birds flighting early shall be unable to clear up the food before the advent of late ar- rivals. Scattering grain thinly over a wide surface achieves this end. , “The decoy birds may be either a cross between the common game duck and the mallard or a further cross having the halfbred bird as one parent and the pure mal- lard as the other. I consider the former preferable when one’s pond is within or near to a locality frequented by wild birds and the latter when it is more or less remote therefrom. “The greater the proportion of domestic blood the stronger the attachment to home; the greater the propor- tion of wild blood the wider the range of the birds and the better the prospect of establishing leads from a dis- y 1146 THE RESTORATION OF WILD FOWL tance. The ducklings should be placed on the pond at. the age of eight or nine weeks. Never allow these decoy birds maize, as the food makes them too fat and hence disinclined to fly far on their own accord. If the pond be situated in a district where mallard breed, efforts -should be made, by scattering wheat thinly over the feed- ing ground, to induce wild birds to-frequent the pond as soon as the young are able to fly. When one has to rely on migrants alone early October is soon enough to aban- don feeding after the ordinary manner in favor of scat- tering the corn over a wide area. The decoy ducks should be kept very tame.” Mr. Shaw describes the shooting of the birds which are drawn nightly to visit the pond as follows: “A quarter of an hour or so before what you calculate to be the beginning of flight time, on the day arranged for the beginning of operations, give your decoy birds a full feed. Then let a dog put them roughly on the wing, a shot or two being fired as they are leaving the pond. They will not go far, and, having been disturbed in this . manner, and having had their hunger quite satisfied, they will seldom return at the flight. The guns are then to-take their. places in the blinds. Repeat these proceed- ings every time of shooting. Not till the flight is quite over must there be made any attempt to gather the duck which fall. Mark them, by sound if not by sight, as carefully as possible, and let the dog retrieve them after- wards. As long as a lead remains unbroken sport may be had throughout the season. It should be made a rule -never to shoot more often than once a week. * * * Ducks which have been shot at or have had their companions -shot at a few times will often come in high over the pond THE RESTORATION OF WILD FOWL 117 and drop to the water almost like stones. Such should. be roused again directly they reach the water, when they are almost certain to give one of the guns an easy shot. So simple and so effective is the plan of obtaining tip-top flight shooting that one often wonders at the lack of en- terprise on the part of owners of water naturally suited to its practice in so seldom putting it into effect.” The State game officers evidently cannot provide good duck shooting on the marshes which are now owned by individuals, and they have done nothing towards restor- ing the fowl to places which have been shot out. It would seem impossible for the State to introduce the ducks on ponds which are overrun by trespassers and by vermin wild and tame. The State game officers might easily breed thousands of wild fowl on ponds owned by the State, and the ducks thus produced should be distributed as stock birds to those who will agree to look after them properly and to increase their numbers. The more capable game officers throughout the country now favor the profitable breed- ing of game by game farmers and preservers. They know that such industry should not be prevented by laws which shorten the season, limit the bag and pro- hibit the sale of desirable food. In Massachusetts many wild fowl are lured to ponds by trained decoys which are taught to fly out over the water. The geese and duck decoys are bred near the ponds, but the breeding of ducks in large numbers for sport has been undertaken only on a few preserves in Massachusetts. The shooting of wild fowl over trained decoys seems to be a sport peculiar to Eastern Massa- chusetts alone. It is done for the most part in the ponds 118 THE RESTORATION OF WILD FOWL of Norfolk, Plymouth and Barnstable Counties. Mr. Ware says: “Barring one stand near Portland and one on the shores of Quincy Bay by salt water, I know of no other places outside of this comparatively small district where wild fowl are taken in this way, but from Ponkapog, hardly a dozen miles from Boston, a skirmish line of shooting stands on the shores of the diifferent ponds stretches across the path of the Southerly migration of the birds as far east as Wellfleet far out on Cape Cod. “The best opportunities usually come when the birds have been driven off their outside course by the heavy North Easterly storms of the Fall and early Winter, | which send them inland, heavy winged and astray. .. . This is without doubt the spot they have sought, and, honking and quacking in grateful salutation, they set their tired wings and circle down. The sounds of wel- come redouble in volume as they approach the surface of the pond, and in a moment, as if unable longer to await their coming, a flock of earlier arrivals in that haven of refuge swings out from the shadow of the woods like a committee of reception to greet them.”* Mr. Ware regards the geese as far more interesting than the ducks and says many of the birds develop marked individualities of their own in addition to the habits common to all of them. “The goose ‘callers’ are either wild birds which have been captured and domesticated or birds more than a year old born in captivity from wild stock. The ‘flyers’ are born in captivity, of course, and the keeping up of the supply of goose ‘flyers,’ the most picturesque element in *“In the Woods and on the Shore.” By Richard H. Ware. L. C. Page & Co., Boston. THE RESTORATION OF WILD FOWL 119 the whole sport to my mind, is the greatest difficulty connected with it. Apart from the raids of rats and skunks upon the young birds, the reasons for this are two—the apparent weakening of the ‘life force’ in Sha- vian terms in the birds born in captivity, so that mating is the exception rather than the rule among them, pos- sibly because the field of natural selection is limited to the few rather than the many, and the fact that both goose and gander, once mated, are faithful in bereave- ment forever after.t This is doubtless highly creditable to the birds, though it has been suggested that this was the true reason of their being called geese, but it is equal- ly inconvenient to their owners.”* *“In the Woods and on the Shore.’ By Richard H. Ware. + See statement of Warren R. Leach, contra, in the chapter on Wild Geese. XVI WILD DUCK SHOOTING ON PRESERVES HE reader no doubt wishes to know how wild ducks can be shot on small preserves without driving them away. When I first learned that they were pre- serving wild ducks in England I wondered how the fowl could be kept at home or within reasonable bounds after the shooting began, but some simple experiments which I made with mallards and dusky ducks, after I had studied the English methods as described in the maga- zines, soon satisfied me that the problem is as easy of solution as standing an egg on end is when one knows how. The secret of success lies in keeping a pond or small stream absolutely safe and attractive at all times, so that when the ducks are disturbed and shot at when they fly about they will at once seek the safe refuge and remain there. They will do this, provided the food supply, natu- ral or artificial, and the cover are satisfactory. Some birds, of course, may desert in company with strange ducks which visit the preserve, but the game consists in mak- ing the place so attractive that the visitors will be in- clined to remain instead of taking the home birds away with them. A correspondent of The Shooting Times and 120 WILD DUCK SHOOTING ON PRESERVES 121 British Sportsman says: “There are very few shoots, possessing water in the shape of a lake or pond, on which wild duck are not now reared, but we hear that trouble and disappointment are caused by the duck deserting. This cannot altogether be prevented with any birds al- lowed the free use of their wings, but if it occurs whole- sale, there is something wrong as regards management. The general practice is to cram the duck with food all day and leave them without any at night, which is a com- plete reversion. of their habits, as it is their custom to rest during the day and feed after dark. The really wild duck feeds to some extent during the day, but not like it does at night. If the duck are only supplied with a light meal during the day, and given a heavy feed just as darkness is setting in, nothing will tempt them to desert, for they are only liable to fly off at flight time. “Tn a district close by the sea, or in other localities fre- quented by wild duck, those hand-reared must be watched’ closely, as it is the wild birds which decoy them away. The aim of readers should be to tempt the strangers to remain with the hand-reared duck, and this they are willing to do if privacy can be arranged. There is sel- dom any difficulty in inducing them to stay on a se- questered piece of water. The really wild duck appear among the hand-reared ones at night, flying down to them owing to their calling, and if our advice to scatter plenty of feed at dark has been followed, there should be attraction for the visitors to stay. Otherwise, the birds will soon leave for the feeding grounds and take with them some of the hand-reared duck. Even greater care must be observed at pairing time, for then the wild drakes do their utmost to decoy the females away, but if they 122 WILD DUCK SHOOTING ON PRESERVES can be induced to remain, there is little fear of inbreed- ing.” The shooting should be done before the ice forms, at which time or soon thereafter the ducks naturally are inclined to go South. Since the young of some species of ducks are fully grown and fly well by the last of Au- gust, the season should be made a long one. I have shot many young ducks which were bred about the prairie ponds in several States when I was shooting prairie chickens in August and September, and those who undertake to save the wild fowl and to increase their numbers in the prairie States should save and multiply the grouse at the same time and have a variety of shooting. The pond in Colorado (described in a former chapter) where. the owner entertains hundreds of ducks near his house fairly represents one part of a good duck preserve, for which the owner acts as gamekeeper. The reader -will remember that the ducks left this pond often to visit a lake and that some of them were shot as they passed overhead in going to the lake and when returning. Some, no doubt, were shot on the lake. Had those who did the shooting been permitted to disturb the fowl at will and to arrange their blinds so as to get the best shooting as the birds departed or returned, they would have had an ex- cellent game preserve at very little trouble and expense. There would be no danger of driving the ducks away, provided the shooting be not done too often. If the general public had been permitted to surround the little pond near the house and to bombard the ducks at all hours of the day the ducks would have deserted the place, and it would remain as desolate as the ponds are in New England and in other settled regions. WILD DUCK SHOOTING ON PRESERVES 123 On some of the small preserves where the ducks fly quickly out of bounds the shooting cannot be long con- tinued or done oftener than once a week, since the ducks are disturbed by the firing near their safe refuge and soon become afraid to venture down to it. We have, however, an abundance of room in America, and since the lands suitable for ducks are inexpensive many preserves can be started quickly and cheaply. When the ducks have several waters, a half mile or more apart, it will be an easy matter to have good flight shoot- ing and at the same time to keep the birds within bounds. They will return to the safe pond when shot at, and, of course, they should not be too often driven out of it. There is more danger of the ducks becoming too tame where they are properly looked after than there is of their deserting. The methods of preserving wild ducks and of shooting them on very small preserves may seem to be artificial. They are, more or less so, necessarily, but on large places the shooting need not differ much, if any, from the shoot- ing at wild ducks in any good duck region. The shoot- ing will be flight shooting at birds passing overhead, and the birds reared on the place, if they be properly handled and not overfed, will travel as fast and as high as the wildest ducks which come to join them at the times of the annual migration. Those who would criticise the shooting on preserves as artificial should remember that the duck shooting, which they enjoy, over decoys, is even more artificial, since the game is lured to the guns by the live or artificial decoys, and the shooting is far easier and, to my mind, far less interesting than the shooting at the swifter marks is. 124 WILD DUCK SHOOTING ON PRESERVES Where many ducks are encouraged to breed wild on the preserve the gunner can seldom tell if he is shooting at a hand-reared fowl or at one that has been bred in the marshes, provided always that the first named be not made too fat and lazy by overfeeding to fly well. The reader should remember that it is an easy matter to domesticate certain species of wild ducks, especially the mallard and dusky ducks, the birds most used on preserves for hand-rearing, and that tame and overfed ducks are of little more value from a sporting viewpoint than ducks which have deserted the preserve never to re- turn. It requires good judgment on the part of the game- keeper to keep his ducks fairly wild and strong on the wing and at the same time to keep them within bounds: On some of the small shoots in England the ducks are kept more tame than they should be on a larger area. The shooting sometimes is highly artificial, The ducks are handled in various ways so as to bring them to the guns continuously in small numbers. .The most artificial method of all, no doubt, consists in catching the ducks in the wire traps referred to else- wheré and in taking them to a distange from their pond and there releasing them singly and in pairs and small companies ‘at short intervals. When the ducks are taken beyond a wood or strip of timber they must ascend to pass over it, and they will fly high in coming to the pond. In some places they are released from a hill or other ele- vation. I know a gamekeeper who can give a line of guns equally good shooting from a row of: blinds placed about two gunshots or a little more apart. He has sev- eral ponds back of the shooting stands, and a good sized flock of ducks is reared on each pond. When the birds , WILD DUCK SHOOTING ON PRESERVES 125 are liberated they spread out in returning to their dif- ferent ponds, and in this way ducks are made to pass over all of the guns in nearly equal numbers, I much prefer the shooting of wilder birds on the duck pass and jumping them from before a boat, pushed through the wild rice; but each to his taste. The time for criticising the conduct of others as a means of in- creasing the game has passed. Almost everything that anyone could think of has been tried as a restrictive game law, and for good scientific reasons the laws have failed to stay the decrease of the game appreciably in settled regions. The increase of game should be encouraged by every possible means, and we should always remember what one does in one way another may prefer to do in another and that everything making for the increase of game and sport is desirable and much needed. We should always bear in mind the fact that the over- flow of game from places where it is abundant is highly beneficial to those who do nothing towards aiding the good work of propagation. Many a stray duck will be shot outside of the game farms and preserves when these places are numerous, and this is the shooting I like best. Near a duck preserve where many ducks are shot every season I learned that the gunners in the vicinity had some shooting at the ducks beyond the limits of the pre- serve which they certainly would not have had in the absence of the preserve, since no ducks ever were reared in a wild state in the locality and the place is out of the line of flight of the migratory fowl. There is no danger -of our having too many preserves. They are more bene- ficial to free sport than game refuges. 126 WILD DUCK SHOOTING ON PRESERVES , A few days ago I witnessed a shoot on a preserve not far from New York where wild ducks are artificially reared. There were six guns in the party and several of them undoubtedly were good shots, but they made many misses since the ducks were very wild and flew high and fast as they came to the guns over the tops of the trees, behind which they were stationed. I endeavored to keep an account of the number of shots fired in order to ascer- tain how many cartridges were used for each duck bagged. It was evident at the outset that from five to ten shots were being fired for each duck killed, but the shooting became very rapid at times and it was impossi- ble to do more than to roughly estimate the proportion of shots and ducks. During the shooting about sixty- five mallards were bagged, and I am qitite sure at least . six hundred, and probably more, shots were fired. Although I do not especially care for this kind of shoot- ing, or, in fact, for any kind of shooting from ambush, since I much prefer to ramble about with dogs, and I care nothing for big bags, I must admit that the shooting at the mallards, which I observed, was as difficult as any shooting I had ever had or seen on a duck pass, and far more difficult than shooting over dogs is, excepting, pos-, sibly, the shooting in heavy cover. . Comparing the shooting at the hand-reared fowl with the shooting of wild bred ducks over decoys one is forced to admit that the last named seems like a child’s play. It is by far the easier shooting. The ducks were in fine condition and on previous days I was informed the bags were somewhat larger. Several hundred ducks were shot during the week and some of them were sent to market, very properly. Since every joyyny ay}