60 BULLETIN 12C, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



The last flis^lit is a more scattering and irregular affair and consistB mostly of the 

 re:l-le;^'ged variety. S'ome of these birds probably winter not far away. The red-legs 

 average heavier and are a much wilder bird. They take to the larger ponds only 

 and nearly always approach decoys with caution. 



Prof. Lynds Jones (1909) reports this as "the commonest of the 

 larger ducks, if, indeed, it is not the commonest of all ducks" in Ohio. 

 He says : 



Gunners report " millions " in the height of the gunning season. Such an estimate 

 appears less extravagant when one realizes that the birds, almost crazed by the con- 

 stant rattle of the guns, are flying back and forth and up and down, the same individ- 

 uals reappearing many times in the course of an hour. I have seen many hun- 

 dreds in a single day, but I doubt if more than a few thousands are even present on 

 any day. 



Game. — Whereas, this is only one of the many birds which interest 

 ornithologists and bird protectionists, it is the bird of all others which 

 interests the wild-fowl gunners of the Eastern States; it is the most 

 important object of their pursuit, the most desirable as a game bird, 

 one of the shyest, most sagacious, and most wary of ducks and 

 the one on which their best efforts are centered. Therefore, I have 

 always thought that it ought to be considered and treated more from 

 a sportsman's standpoint than from any other and that any legisla- 

 tion for its protection ought to give due consideration to the rights 

 of the sportsmen in the pursuit of such a noble game bird. To pro- 

 hibit shooting it during January has always seemed to me unfair to 

 many sportsmen on our seacoast, to whom it is not available during 

 earlier months. The black duck has shown marked success in the 

 struggle for existence; it is so sagacious, so wary, and so alert that it 

 is one of the best equipped species to survive, even in a thickly set- 

 tled region where it is constantly beset by hunters, but whore, for- 

 tunately for its welfare, numerous safe refuges have been established. 

 For these reasons it is hardly in need, as yet, of very stringent protec- 

 tive laws; therefore, I see no reason why sportsmen should not be 

 allowed a reasonable amount of sport at its expense. 



The methods employed for shooting black ducks are many and 

 varied, but they all depend on the strategy and skill of the hunter in 

 outwitting one of the keenest of game birds. They will not ordi- 

 narily come to wooden decoys, for their keen eyes readily detect the 

 deception, but on the islands off the coast of Maine I have had fair 

 sport over wooden decoys anchored just off the rocks where we lay 

 concealed ; the birds came in singly or in twos or threes, circling wide 

 at first and then coming in to inspect the decoys; on discovering their 

 mistake they would mount into the air and swerve off, but some- 

 times too late to escape the shot. In the winter when the ponds 

 were frozen over, we used to fmd good shooting, without any decoys 

 at all, where s]:)rings or small streams emptied into the salt water 

 bays; here the ducks came in to drink or bathe in the only available 



