LITE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN WILD FOWL. 169 



has found a wood duck's nest has been tempted to take the eggs 

 home to hatch them, as these ducks are easily domesticated and make 

 attractive pets. It is so tame and unsuspicious that it is easily shot 

 in large numbers and it has been extensively caught in traps. From 

 the great abundance, noted by all the earlier writers, its numbers 

 have been reduced to a small fraction of what they were; in many 

 places, where it was once abundant, it is now unknown or very rare; 

 and it has everywhere been verging towards extinction. Fortunately 

 our attention was called to these facts by Dr. A. K. Fisher (1901) 

 and Mr. William Dutcher (1907) before it was too late, and now that 

 suitable laws have been enacted for its protection in many States, 

 it has been saved from extinction and is even on the increase in some 

 places. 



Fall. — The fall migration starts early. Doctor Yorke (1899) says 

 of it: 



The first fall issue consists of local ducks, which migrate during the early part of the 

 month of September. The second comes down from the Northern States about the end 

 of September, while the last comes down in the early part of October. The second and 

 third do not stay nearly so long as the first issue, which is the largest and collects in 

 quantities on favorite grounds. The second and third collect in a different 

 manner; they drop into willows, buck brush and on rivers and timber-clad ponds, 

 in singles, pairs, or little flocks, about nightfall, and depart before morning; these 

 places are used by them nightly during their migrations, until all have gone south, 

 and appear to be regular stopping places. The ducks of the third issue are full 

 fledged upon their arrival. 



Game. — ^As a game bird the wood duck has always been popular, 

 as it is a clean feeder, often very fat, and a delicious table bird. It 

 will come readily to live decoys or even to well-made wooden decoys, 

 if properly handled; it is such a swift flier and so clever in avoiding 

 places that it has found to be dangerous that considerable skill and 

 strategy is necessary to hunt it successfully. One of the best methods 

 of hunting it is to lie in wait for it, properly concealed, on one of its 

 fly ways between its feeding grounds and its roosting places, but to 

 succeed in this the hunter must make a thorough study of its move- 

 ments and learn all he can about the nature of the country in which 

 it lives. Wood ducks usually roost for the night in small open pools 

 in the woods, where they are sheltered and secure. About an hour 

 before sunrise, or as soon as it begins to bo light, they leave these 

 pools and fly to their feeding grounds in the wild rice marshes, in 

 sluggish streams and ponds filled with aquatic vegetation or along 

 the wooded banks where they can pick up seeds, nuts, and acorns. 

 If necessary, they will rise and fly over the tops of the forest trees, 

 but they prefer to fly along the open lanes, streams or passageways 

 which are usually found connecting the ponds in the regions they 

 frequent. Here they fly low in regular flight lines and if the gunner 

 places his blind in some narrow passageway between the trees in 



