100 AMERICAN DUCK CLUBS 



The amount of money invested in lands, buildings and 

 boats, including power launches and yachts, is tremen- 

 dous, and the many thousands of gunners who own 

 shares in these clubs should take notice of the fact that 

 the wild fowl must decrease in numbers when their 

 Northern nesting grounds are destroyed and that it seems 

 certain that the ducks will visit the club marshes in much 

 smaller numbers than they now do, provided the shoot- 

 ing continues to increase and nothing be done to cause 

 an increase in the numbers of the game. 



All of these club men, whose properties are situated 

 to the Eastward of the Rocky Mountains, should 

 take an interest, as I have said, in the "wild ducks' 

 paradise," and they should endeavor to so arrange mat- 

 ters that the Northern breeding grounds be not all de- 

 stroyed. 



Some vast parks, containing miles of sloughs and 

 ponds, should be set aside as duck refuges in "the ducks' 

 paradise," just as the parks and big game refuges have 

 been created for the deer and elk in the Western States. 

 I believe this matter can be arranged easily and that it 

 will be before long. I suggested the setting aside of 

 some refuges for ducks (in "Our Feathered Game"), and 

 some of the places I named have since been made national 

 bird parks.* But this is not enough. The inhabitants of 

 "the wild ducks' paradise" should be taught that it will 

 pay not to drain many of the sloughs and ponds and that 

 they can be profitably used as breeding places for the 

 ducks. The people should be encouraged to properly 

 look after the wild fowl on these famous breeding 



♦Stump Lake, N. Dak., is one of the most important wild duck refuges. 

 See Our Feathered Game, p. 33. 



