CONSERVATION OF GAME BIRDS. 523 



Mr. W. T. Payne of Boston writes me that in some Ver- 

 mont marshes in which he is interested, and wliere spring- 

 shooting has been prohibited for years, practically all the 

 wild Ducks are breeding, also Canada Geese. He names the 

 Black Duck, Mallard, Widgeon, Shoveller, Blue- winged Teal, 

 Green-winged Teal, Gray Duck, Wood Duck, Bluebill and 

 Whistler. He says that the careful protection of these marshes 

 during the spring and summer months has accomplished won- 

 ders in the numbers of Ducks reared there. Prior to the pro- 

 hibition of spring shooting there were very few Ducks in these 

 marshes on the opening of the season; now there are quan- 

 tities of Ducks there, and also in the other near-by marshes, 

 when the fall season opens on September 1. Others corrob- 

 orate his statement. 



Mr. W. S. Bogert writes me from northern New Jersey 

 (1911) that during the past three years, since spring shooting- 

 was prohibited, he has noted a considerable increase in the 

 number of Ducks in his vicinity. Previously they had decreased 

 until very few came to his neighborhood in migration, and 

 only a few Wood Ducks bred there. More were seen in 1909, 

 still more in 1910, and two pairs of Black Ducks and one pair 

 of Scaup bred near his place in 1911. He found Wood Ducks 

 rearing their young as usual, also four pairs of Scaup, five 

 pairs of Black Ducks and one pair of Whistlers. These Ducks 

 and their broods remained all summer and fall in a marsh 

 within a short ride of New York City, and in October a flock 

 of fifty Ducks remained in the marsh for a long time, and 

 large numbers came in at night and left at daj^light. This 

 increase of wild-fowl so near New York City probably cannot 

 long continue, but it is significant. 



On Long Island spring shooting has been prohibited 

 nominally for years, but an unfortunate provision allowing 

 the spring shooting of Brant has given the gunners an oppor- 

 tunity to shoot all kinds of wild-fowl under the pretense of 

 Brant shooting. They were not slow to seize this opportunity, 

 and spring shooting was common along the coast of Long 

 Island until 1910, when spring Brant shooting was prohibited 

 by law, leaving the gunner no excuse for being out with a gun 



