VI 11 PREFACE. 



peace. From the time the birds leave the frozen North- 

 land, until the survivors return to it again in the ensuing 

 year, the hunted fowl run the gantlet of a nation in arms ; 

 and no sooner do they pass the boundaries of the land 

 they seek in the spring for the purpose of reproduction, 

 than the natives continue the slaughter of the birds until 

 they depart for southern climes. Is it any wonder that 

 their numbers are diminishing; is it not rather a wonder 

 that so many are left? Doubtless these fowl are one of 

 the important means for sustaining the lives of those who 

 exist in Arctic solitudes, but the natives, before they were 

 taught the white man's ways, carried on no war of exter- 

 mination, and the number of the invading army did not 

 diminish, as is proved by the myriads that once entered 

 the United States every autumn. But now, provided 

 with modern firearms, in place of the spear and the bow 

 and arrow, the savages slay the birds not alone for their 

 own consumption, but also to supply the demands of 

 commerce and of fashion, while the eggs are collected by 

 boatloads in order that certain pursuits may be made 

 more profitable. By such mischievous methods the mis- 

 guided inhabitants of the Arctic regions are destroying 

 one of their own means of existence, and joining with 

 civilized man in southern climes, to hasten the extermi- 

 nation of the race. 



Few families of birds have more admirers than that of 

 the Anatidae, and in the early autumn the Honk of the 

 Goose, or the whistling wings of the advancing army of 

 Ducks, heard overhead at night as they arrive from the 

 North, cause many an eye to glisten, and many a pulse 

 to beat faster throughout the land. Duck-shooting has 

 a host of votaries, perhaps no kind of field sport has so 

 many, who follow it enthusiastically in spite of its often 

 attendant hardships and exposures. 



