Waterfowl 65 



near a marshy lake and had killed quite a number 

 of ducks, mostly widgeon and teal; and this morn- 

 ing we intended to try shooting among the corn- 

 fields. By sunrise we were a good distance off, 

 on a high ridge, across which we had noticed that 

 the ducks flew in crossing from one set of lakes 

 to another. The flight had already begun, and our 

 arrival scared off the birds for the time being; but 

 in a little while, after we had hidden among the 

 sheaves, stacking the straw; up around us, the ducks 

 began to come back, either flying over in their pas- 

 sage from the water, or else intending to light and 

 feed. They were for the most part mallards, which 

 are the commonest of the Western ducks, and the 

 only species customarily killed in this kind of shoot- 

 ing. They are especially fond of the corn, of which 

 there was a small patch in the grain field. To this 

 flocks came again and again, and fast though they 

 flew we got many before they left the place, scared 

 by the shooting. Those that were merely passing 

 from one point to another flew low, and among 

 them we shot a couple of gadwall, and also knocked 

 over a red-head from a little bunch that went by, 

 their squat, chunky forms giving them a very dif- 

 ferent look from the longer, lighter-built mallard. 

 The mallards that came to feed flew high in the 

 air, wheeling round in gradually lowering circles 

 when they had reached the spot where they in- 

 tended to light. In shooting in the grain fields 

 there is usually plenty of time to aim, a snap shot 

 being from the nature of the sport exceptional. 



