176 FIELD SHOOTING. 



streams. They do not come into the corn-fields 

 much, and are shot along rivers and creeks. 

 I have, however, seen these small ducks flying to 

 the corn-fields when it was nearly dark. At times, 

 when ponds in corn-fields are enlarged by rains, 

 and the low places in the fields are overflowed, 

 many teal resort to them. From such places, at 

 break of day, I have often put up hundreds of 

 teal and hundreds of other kinds of ducks. A 

 great many teal and small ducks, such as blue- 

 bills, are shot on the Calumet River, and Abe 

 Kleinman gets his full share of them. Mallards, 

 canvas-backs, and red-heads are sometimes shot 

 there too, but the smaller ducks are those which 

 commonly prevail. The spring ducks remain with 

 us from four to five weeks, but after the great 

 multitudes have gone north some straggling 

 parties still remain. Mallards pair by the middle 

 of March, and the teal next. The other kinds 

 of ducks are later, and 1 do not think they have 

 paired up to the time of their leaving our lati- 

 tudes for the higher ones in which they breed 

 in most cases. 



About the last of September the ducks begin 

 to arrive from their breeding-grounds in the far 

 north. Some are seen before that time, but they 



