140 OUT WITH THE BIRDS 



tween thirty and forty feet is good range for the 

 speed, non-telephoto lenses, and a mallard has 

 a wonderfully penetrating eye and receptive ear 

 toward all things within that distance of him. 



Of course pictures of wild ducks, and good 

 ones too, may be secured in other and easier 

 ways. The hunter may crouch in a blind, bat- 

 tery, or pit, with decoys scattered around him, 

 just as if he were a gunner, and click off the in- 

 coming birds, a score or more at a time. But 

 in so doing he has missed one of the biggest 

 factors in the game the pitting of himself, his 

 own wit and fiber against that of the birds. He 

 achieves much of the result without the struggle, 

 which of course woefully minimizes the result, 

 for with the real hunter nothing is worth while 

 pursuing that does not lead a stiff chase. Just 

 this sort of chase is furnished to the stalker by 

 the wily members of the clan of Quack. 



For this sport, especially in the inland prairie 

 region to the northward, the latter part of the 

 month of August is about the best time to go 

 afield. The young birds then are awing, and 

 the well-mixed flocks are well-centralized in 

 chosen localities. The birds are not yet terri- 

 fied and scattered by the shooting season, and in 



