OUR DUCKS. 7/ 
still are wrestling with a problem apparently hard to 
solve: ‘What has become of our ducks?” Notwith- 
standing new state laws have been proposed and en- 
acted, offenders punished, new game _ wardens 
appointed and “tot homines tot sententiz” have writ- 
ten volumes on the subject, the same stern, hard facts 
remain regardless of them all. Where are our bisons 
which a few years ago roamed from Mexico to Can- 
ada upon their native heath, the wonder and admira- 
tion of the world; whose tread shook the earth like an 
advancing army and the warmth of whose robes 
formed the surest protection from the chill of the 
northern blizzards? Where are our pigeon roosts? 
Miles upon miles of timber still bear the shock of their 
nesting grounds, in the shape of broken and distorted 
branches, dead and lifeless limbs whose boughs once 
tossed their green and beautiful foliage hap-hazard to 
the breeze still stand mute witnesses of bygone 
days. Once the thunder of wings, of crashing 
boughs and branches, drowned all outward sounds as 
they rose to darken the sun in quest of food for their 
callow broods. Only a few scattered flocks and pairs 
remain! Killed to satiate the hungry maws of selfish 
market hunters! Our ducks will soon be in the same 
predicament, if we do not diligently and earnestly seek 
to discover the true cause, and apply the proper rem- 
edy ere it be too late. In the history of every country, 
business reverses, panics and failures constantly oc- 
cur, eventually proving blessings in disguise, owing 
to the fact that new ways, projects and means are 
continually being devised and formulated to confront 
them, based upon the errors of past experiences. 
