110 FRANK FORESTERS FIELD SPORTS. 



many as he can conveniently stow away, without in the least 

 alarmino- the rest. They are also taken with snares made of 

 horsehair, or with hooks baited with small pieces of sheep's 

 lights, which, floating on the surface, are swallowed by the 

 Ducks, and with them the hooks. They are also approached 

 under cover of a stalking horse, or a figure formed of thin 

 boards, or other proper materials, and painted so as to represent 

 a horse or an ox. 



" But all these methods require much watching, toil, and 

 fatigue ; and their success is but trifling when compared with 

 that of the decoys now used both in France and England ; 

 which, from its superiority over every other mode, is well de- 

 serving the attention of persons of this country residing in the 

 neighborhood of extensive marshes frequented by Wild Ducks, 

 as by this method Mallard and other kinds may be taken by 

 thousands at a time." — Wilson''s Am. Ornithology. 



Next in size, though neither in beauty nor in excellence, to 

 the Mallard, comes the Dusky Duck, better known in every 

 part of the United States as the Black Duck., the latter being a 

 misnomer as applied to this fowl, and really belonging to a very 

 different bird, which will be treated of hereafter with the Sea 

 Ducks — FutigulcR. This bird, unlike the former species, which 

 is common to both continents, Europe and America, if not to 

 Africa and Asia also, is peculiar to North America, ranging 

 from Labrador to Texas ; in both of which, strange to say, 

 and in all the intermediate localities, it breeds and rears its 

 young. 



THE DUSKY DUCK. 



Anas Obscura — Wilson, Bonap. The Black Duck. 



" Breeds in Texas, westward, and throughout the United 

 States, British Provinces, Labrador, and Columbia River. 



