40 The Wild-Fowlers 



without using a battery'; don't forget 

 that part of it, Doctor. And that means 

 a great deal. There was a time and it 

 was when the ducks and geese in the 

 Great South Bay were not much more 

 plentiful than they are nowadays that 

 one could have fine play with several 

 species of ducks and Canada geese and 

 brant from any point or tiny island in 

 that grand old lagoon, but your battery 

 business has ruined all this. Years ago 

 the bay was alive with canvasback, but 

 you seldom see them now. Ducks shot 

 at from a point or island over decoys will 

 go to other points and islands or the open 

 water, but when shot at from a battery 

 on their feeding-beds in open water, 

 where they cannot understand how a man 

 can conceal himself, they are frightened 

 away from the locality altogether, as 

 Roosevelt truthfully says. I will admit 

 that the broadbill, brant, sheldrake, and 

 scoter " coot" as the baymen call it 

 are as plentiful in the Great South Bay 



