98 . AMERICAN DUCK CLUBS 



The ducks were so abundant a few years, ago that no 

 effort was made to increase their numbers or to control 

 their natural enemies. The shooting was kept up late in 

 the Spring, after the ducks had mated and when many 

 of them would have remained to nest, undoubtedly, had 

 they been given a chance to do so. As long as the ducks 

 were abundant the necessity for looking after them and 

 increasing their numbers did not occur to anyone. 



There are many small ponds on these club grounds 

 which have desirable fields adjacent where the artificial 

 rearing of ducks could be carried on to great advantage. 

 Thousands of ducks could be produced every Spring at 

 a very small expense, since they could be liberated when 

 a few weeks old, and they would find most of their food 

 in the marshes. The vanishing wood-duck, the teal and 

 other fowl could be made to provide excellent shooting 

 by the end of August and long before any migratory 

 birds arrive from the North. 



At the time of my visit to the Lake Erie group of clubs 

 I observed that some of the natural enemies of the game 

 were abundant. Hawks were often seen in the air, and 

 on one occasion a hawk alighted on the head of a punter 

 who sat motionless in the grass, the bird mistaking his 

 old gray hat for a stump, no doubt. There were many 

 rattlesnakes on the preserves of the Ottawa and Winous 

 Point Clubs, and one of them crawled up on a log where 

 I was seated sketching one day and coiled itself up be- 

 side me. I was somewhat alarmed when I discovered it, 

 but easily killed it. 



The unfortunate introduction of the carp has destroyed 

 miles of splendid food — the wild rice — and Mr. Chamber- 

 lain, the Secretary of the Ottawa Club, recently wrote me 



