LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN WILD FOWL. 229 



all winter and furnish excellent sport for the gunners. They are 

 generally very fat at that season, when they have been feeding on 

 vegetable food, seeds, and grain, and their flesh becomes excellent in 

 flavor. 



Game. — The methods employed for shooting the ''ringbills" as 

 they are called, are the same as for the ''bluebills." Blinds are set 

 in their fly ways or passes, to and from their feeding grounds, where 

 they decoy well to wooden decoys and where large numbers are killed. 

 Although not so universally abundant as some other species and not 

 so well known, this is one of the most abundant ducks of the South 

 Atlantic and Gulf States in winter. On the coast of Louisiana these 

 ducks spend the night out on the Gulf, but come into the ponds to 

 feed at daybreak. They come in small flocks of from 3 or 4 to 10 or 

 12, flying with great speed, and drop at once without circling, into 

 the pond they have selected. They seem to have certain favorite 

 feeding ponds, for while one pond will yield excellent sport, the 

 gunner in an adjoining pond may not get a shot. They are naturally 

 not shy and are not easily driven from their favorite feeding grounds. 

 Mr. Arthur H. Howell (1911) writes that on Big Lake, Arkansas, 

 "in November and December it is often the most abundant duck, 

 and gunners there frequently kill as many as 50 birds in a few hours. 

 A few remain all winter." 



DISTRIBUTION. 



Breeding range. — Central North America. East to northern Sas- 

 katchewan (Athabaska Lake region), western Ontario (Lac la Seul), 

 and southeastern Wisconsin (Lakes Koshkonong and Pewaukee). 

 Has been known to breed in southeastern Maine (Calais) . South to 

 northern Illinois (formerly at least), northern Iowa (Clear Lake), 

 northern Nebraska (Cherry County), and northern Utah (Salt Lake 

 County). West to northeastern California (Lassen County), central 

 southern Oregon (Klamath Lake), and central southern British 

 Columbia (Chilliwack and Cariboo district). North to the central 

 Mackenzie Valley (Fort Simpson) and Athabasca Lake (Fort Chip- 

 ewyan) . Breeding records from farther north are open to question. 



Winter range. — Southern North America. East to the Atlantic 

 coast of United States, the Bahama Islands and rarely to Porto Rico 

 and Cuba. South throughout Mexico to Guatemala. West to the 

 Pacific coast of Mexico and United States. North to southern 

 British Columbia (Okanogan Lake), probably Nevada, New Mexico, 

 and northern Texas, to northeastern Arkansas (Big Lake), southern 

 Illinois (Ohio Valley), and eastern Maryland (Chesapeake Bay). 

 Casual in winter as far north as eastern Massachusetts (Boston). 



Spring migration. — Early dates of arrivals: Pennsylvania, Erie, 

 March 15; New York, Niagara Falls, March 10; Massachusetts, 



