THE MUD QUEEN 121 
had evidently been feeding in the marsh and was look- 
ing for another feeding place and perhaps a companion 
ortwo. The moment his eye caught sight of the snow 
geese, our decoys on the sandbar, he began to shy off. 
Possibly wild geese and ducks don’t get along well 
socially. Anyway I don’t remember ever having seen 
them feeding close together. The mallard rose forty 
yards and started to pass around the geese. Jimmy 
had his gun ready but it was my shot. It was not a 
difficult shot, but I was a little nervous, knowing Jimmy 
would shoot if my first shot missed the duck. But luck 
was on my side and at the report of the gun the mallard 
dropped in the thick tules. We had a long hunt for 
him and were just about to give it up when I sawa 
bunch of tules move a little. I pounced on the spot and 
there was the bird, unharmed except a broken wing. 
‘““‘What did the professor say to your shots killing 
ducks?’’ I asked when we were once more settled in the 
blind. 
“He only grinned a little and said he supposed my 
conclusions were true, but he did not mean it that way; 
he meant a duck would die if he ate twenty number 
seven shot. 
““*Ducks don’t eat shot,’ I told him. 
‘“““Not from choice,’ he replied, ‘but think of the 
thousands of tons of shot that are scattered about in 
the mud of these lakes. Then as most of the shooting 
is done where the water is shallow, say from one to four 
inches deep, the ducks when feeding must often pick 
up shot and swallow them with other food.’ 
“IT was kind of taken by surprise at this reasoning,’’ 
said Jimmy, ‘‘and hardly knew what to say, so to gain 
time I asked, ‘How do you make out that the shot when 
eaten kills the duck?’ 
