THE DECREASE OF WILDFOWL. 581 



the breeding grounds. Wildfowl, while gregarious in 

 migration, are by no means so in breeding. * * * 

 I have seen miles of country (barren) in the North- 

 west that to a superficial observer might seem to be a 

 vast breeding ground, but would really hold but few 

 birds in comparison to its apparent capabilities, and 

 even those which were to be seen flying about were by 

 no means all breeders. 



"With sea fowl it might be different, but my experi- 

 ence on the Pacific has been that, with few exceptions, 

 there are no such breeding grounds accessible to any 

 one commercially disposed as there have been on the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence and Labrador coast. I thought 

 at the time that the matter of commercial egg destruc- 

 tion was opened up, that it was simply a weak invention 

 of those who are butchering spring birds to throw dust 

 and endeavor to blind people as to the real cause of de- 

 crease, viz., spring shooting." 



Another correspondent of Forest and Stream, writ- 

 ing from St. Louis, Mo., made some statements with 

 regard to the destruction of birds in the swamps of 

 Missouri and Arkansas which are worth quoting. He 

 said: "I have read with much interest your article 

 pertaining to the gathering of wild duck eggs for com- 

 mercial purposes. The theory, whenever mentioned, 

 never fails to produce audible smiles. * * * The 

 secret of decimated ranks lies more with those fortu- 

 nate enough to get where ducks are, and with the mar- 

 ket-shooter in particular, who is on the ground all the 

 time. No ; wild ducks are not all dead yet, not if we 



