IIl4 MIGRATORY SPRING FLIGHT. 
manner. Ducks also materially assist in keeping 
water open, by swimming around throughout the 
night. Muskrats always have open water around their 
houses. . Large cracks are also formed by the con- 
tractions and relaxations of frost, which with a roar 
like distant thunder rends the surface of the ice. A 
crack thus started will run for a great distance, usu- 
ally lengthwise of the lake, making an upheaval of the 
two edges, which, exposed to the wind and sun, soon 
produces a channel. This instantly attracts the fishes, 
which by their rapid movements create undercurrents 
and materially assist in the opening of a channel. 
Directly after one of these upheavals, scouting par- 
ties will be observed, which, after a quick survey and 
dip, depart to their officers and report. If satisfac- 
tory, the report produces the rush; if not, new scouts 
are started or the same ones are sent out again. When 
a flock of pintails or mallards is seen going south high 
in the air during the latter part of the winter, es- 
pecially in the afternoon, one can readily understand 
they are a scouting party returning from an excur- 
sion; and, on the other hand, when a flock is seen 
passing over in the morning, flying north, it most 
probably is upon a prospecting tour, and a change 
in the weather may be shortly expected. 
The bulk of our ducks during the past decade has 
rapidly moved westward in their flights; while the 
nesting grounds have moved northward. It now rests 
with the sportsmen of America to determine their 
destiny for the next. The existence of a law which 
would include the whole United States would, in my 
opinion, practically cover the ground. Take August 
15 until January 1, would give two months’ shooting 
