122 “COME DUCK SHOOTING WITH ME” 
‘““*T have experimented with a number of ducks and 
found that twenty number seven shot will kill a pintail 
duck in two weeks and apintailis an average-sized duck. 
They get droopy after three days and die after fourteen 
days with all the symptoms. of painters’ lead colic. 
You know a number seven shot is as large as the pupil 
of the duck’s eye. Now if you were to swallow twenty 
buckshot each as large as the pupil of your eye, you 
might find yourself in a heap of trouble before you got 
through.’ That professor chap certainly experimented 
a lot, he was always at it,’’ added Jimmy. 
‘“‘What was he experimenting about?’’ I asked. 
“With all kinds of sick ducks in coops,’’ Jimmy 
answered. 
‘‘What were the symptoms of this duck sickness?”’ 
‘‘First dysentery, then paralysis of the wings. The 
ducks that had the disease soon lost the ability to fly. 
When the paralysis attacked their legs, the ducks would 
crawl under a bunch of tules and remain in a stupor 
until they died, generally twenty-four hours later.’’ 
‘‘Could the professor cure them?’’ I asked. 
‘““Ves,’’ said Jimmy, “‘he could; all he did was to put 
them in coops with good fresh water and food. Nearly 
all recovered when treated in this manner except the 
ducks found far gone in their preliminary death stupor. 
When the sick ducks began to get better under the fresh 
water cure you ought to see them eat. They were as 
hungry as spring bears. The professor’s theory that it 
was the strong alkali solution in the water that killed 
the ducks was undoubtedly the correct one.’”’ 
We stayed late that evening because we knew the 
Mud Queen would bring us to the landing in half an 
hour. Just before sundown a half a dozen single mal- 
lards came in one after the other but only three came 
