368 Hollister, Abundance of Wild Ducks. [j^ 



water, the blinds being built on the shore, usually on a point 

 extending out into the lake. For this reason the cottage gun 

 record is essentially an open-water record of deep-water ducks. 

 The river ducks were not commonly obtained in such places and 

 comparatively few of them were included in the bags. 



In all, 701 ducks, besides geese, snipe, and other game birds, 

 are listed in these records, the species carefully distinguished 

 by their local names. Unfortunately, though, the common prac- 

 tice of duck hunters of lumping the Greater and Lesser Scaups 

 and the Ring-neck under the common name of 'Blue-bill,' was 

 followed in our cottage game book. Although we recognized 

 the three species perfectly we simply followed general custom 

 in keeping them together in such records. From my own recol- 

 lection, and I examined practically every bird recorded, as well 

 as from a study of my personal ornithological journal covering 

 these years, I should judge that the 270 ' Blue-bills' listed in the 

 lake records should be divided about as follows: Lesser Scaup, 

 60 per cent.; Ring-neck, 35 per cent.; and Greater Scaup, 5 per 

 cent. Sometimes the Lesser Scaup was the commonest, and 

 again, for an entire week, the Ring-neck far outnumbered the 

 other 'Blue-bills.' I find, for instance, in my own bird journal, 

 under general remarks covering the first two weeks of November, 

 1895, at Delavan Lake, the following: 



Ducks were very abundant, even older hunters say they never saw 

 blue-bills so plentiful. The air was fairly dark with them at times; fully 

 500 or even 1,000 Lesser Scaups to one of any other kind. Did not see a 

 Ring-neck during the two weeks, although this is usually a common species. 

 There were more American Scaups [Greater Scaups] than I have ever 

 seen before, indeed they might almost be said to be common. A few 

 Canvas-backs, Red-heads, Butter-balls, Hooded Mergansers, Golden-eyes, 

 Red-breasted and American Mergansers, Green-wings, Mallards, and 

 Pintails. Canada and Snow Geese common, especially the first; a few 

 Swans also. 



Records for a number of successive years must therefore be 

 kept to give any reasonably accurate figures on the relative abun- 

 dance of the species. Almost every season is exceptional as 

 regards some particular species; either some kind is unusually 

 abundant or some kind is unaccountably rare. 



