598 DUCK SHOOTING. 



LEAD POISONING. 



Another quite unexpected danger to wildfowl, which 

 was discovered only in 1894, having been then an- 

 nounced in Forest and Stream, is the self-poisoning of 

 ducks, by means of lead taken into the stomach in the 

 form of shot. 



In Texas, at Galveston, at Stephenson Lake, and on 

 Lake Surprise, twenty-five miles northeast of Galves- 

 ton, as well as at points in Currituck Sound, on the 

 North Carolina coast, there are frequently found ducks, 

 geese and swans, dead, or sick and unable to fly. On 

 examination they prove to be unmarked by shot, and 

 often appear externally in good condition. An in- 

 vestigation, however, shows that the gizzard contains, 

 with the sand and gravel always to be found there, 

 particles of lead — shot or its remains — picked up 

 by the bird in feeding. The condition of some of these 

 particles shows that they have recently been taken into 

 the gizzard, for they have lost nothing in size or sur- 

 face. Others have evidently been subjected for some 

 time to the grinding process, and have lost much of 

 their weight. It is said that in Texas sometimes such 

 gizzards contain, beside particles of lead, old percus- 

 sion caps. 



The matter was first brought to my personal atten- 

 tion during the winter of 1893-4, and shortly after I 

 wrote about it, substantially as follows : 



