Waterfowl. 5* 



Although the plains country is in most places very 

 dry, yet there are here and there patches of prairie land 

 where the reverse is true. One such is some thirty miles 

 distant from my ranch. The ground is gently rolling, in 

 some places almost level, and is crossed by two or three 

 sluggish, winding creeks, with many branches, always hold- 

 ing water, and swelling out into small pools and lakelets 

 wherever there is a hollow. The prairie round about is 

 wet, at times almost marshy, especially at the borders of 

 the great reedy slews. These pools and slews are favorite 

 breeding-places for water-fowl, especially for mallard, and 

 a good bag can be made at them in the fall, both among 

 the young flappers (as tender and delicious birds for the 

 table as any I know), and among the flights of wild duck 

 that make the region a stopping-place on their southern 

 migration. In these small pools, with little cover round 

 the edges, the poor flappers are at a great disadvantage ; 

 we never shoot them unless we really need them for the 

 table. But quite often, in August or September, if near 

 the place, I have gone down to visit one or two of the 

 pools, and have brought home half a dozen flappers, killed 

 with the rifle if I had been out after large game, or with 

 the revolver if I had merely been among the cattle, each 

 duck, in the latter case, representing the expenditure of a 

 vast number of cartridges. 



Later in the fall, when the young ducks are grown and 

 the flocks are coming in from the north, fair shooting may 

 be had by lying in the rushes on the edge of some large 

 pond, and waiting for the evening flight of the birds ; or 

 else by taking a station on some spot of low ground 



