538 GAME BIRDS. WILD-FOWL AND SHORE BIRDS. 



about how many were killed at the other stands, which also 

 were firing similar volleys.^ 



Night shooting is (or was) commonly practiced at these 

 stands. Many correspondents seem to believe that stand 

 shooting will exterminate all Geese and Ducks eventually, or 

 drive them out of the country. They therefore protest against 

 this kind of shooting. 



Mr. Nathaniel A. Eldridge of Chatham writes: "I think 

 the greatest enemy the Black Duck has is the pond shooters 

 who use live Duck decoys, decoy them in to places which are 

 practical forts, and then clean up whole flocks. Ducks have 

 not the slightest chance." 



Mr. Fred F. Dill of North Eastham writes: "I am a pot- 

 hunter and make one-fourth of my living with my gun. I use 

 live decoys and shoot on fresh water. If laws were passed 

 prohibiting this it would cost me one hundred and fifty dollars 

 a year, but the preservation of the game demands that it 

 should be done." 



Mr. Edward B. Robinson, Jr., of Cataumet says that more 

 Ducks and Geese are killed by a few gunners at Snake Pond, 

 John's Pond and Mashpee Pond by the use of live decoys 

 than all the other gunners kill in that section of the Cape. 



Mr. Jonathan H. Jones of Waquoit says that if the people 

 of Massachusetts do not want to see all of the fresh-water 

 wild-fowl killed or driven away the use of live decoys must be 

 stopped. If the Black Ducks and Geese, he says, cannot go 

 to the fresh-water ponds in safety at night to drink and wash 

 up they will desert the region. He finds that now these birds 

 are nearly all shot at the fresh-water ponds, or driven away, 

 and that those which escape do not stop as they used to, but 

 pass on. He has a small stand and a large number of live 

 decoys, but is willing to give up all for the benefit of the sport. 



Nevertheless, there is something to be said for the pond 

 shooters. Most of them oppose spring shooting. Mr. B. H. 

 Currier says that without live decoys it would be very diflfi- 

 cult now to kill Ducks or Geese in these ponds, and that the 

 pond gunners of eastern Massachusetts would have to close 



' Grinnell, George Bird: American Duck Shooting, 1901, pp. 268-273. 



