CONSERVATION OF GAME BIRDS. 533 



periment stations of Canada have introduced and perfected 

 wheat that will mature in the short summers of the north. 

 Another railroad across the continent is projected and will be 

 built. Surveys for railways to Alaska and Hudson Bay have 

 begun. Steamboat lines have been established on the rivers 

 of the north. In all this region the shallow marshes and de- 

 pressions in the prairie will be drained wherever it is possible, 

 and the birds will be driven out, until in time there will be no 

 place left for them but the ponds in the Barren Grounds and 

 the tundra of the far north. It is probable that many of the 

 most valuable species are not hardy enough to breed in these 

 arctic and sub-arctic lands. Within twenty-five years, there- 

 fore, there will be few great breeding colonies of some of the 

 most highly prized food Ducks, such as the Canvas-back, the 

 Redhead, the Shoveller and the Blue-winged Teal. The drain- 

 ing of swamps and marshes, and their reclamation for agri- 

 cultural purposes, eventually will destroy many of the best 

 breeding places for wild-fowl throughout this continent. The 

 future supply must come largely from such small colonies and 

 scattered pairs as may be allowed to nest and rear their young 

 in favorable spots in settled regions. 



Night Shooting. 



There is good ground for the belief that night shooting at 

 any time or place should be absolutely prohibited, for noth- 

 ing is more certain to drive birds of any kind away from any 

 locality where it is practiced. Inland ponds where night 

 shooting is allowed are deserted by water-fowl eventually, 

 and none can be attracted to them except by the use of live 

 decoys. The Black Duck is one of the first to leave such ponds, 

 and old gunners say that it will not return to ponds where it 

 has been shot at in the night unless driven by necessity, as is 

 the case sometimes in winter, when most of its drinking places 

 are frozen over. If the birds are persecuted all day and all 

 night they soon will leave for some other region, where they 

 can find more safety and a chance to rest. Wild Ducks feed 

 normally during the day and in the dusk of morning and 



