4 The Water-fowl Family 



man has gone, he has found these birds and waged 

 a relentless warfare on them. Recently I heard 

 of a device which has been common for years 

 in southern Mexico. Not far from the city of 

 Mexico, the larger lakes, which are the winter 

 home for countless thousands of wild fowl, are 

 leased for large sums to Mexicans who gun for 

 the market. Cannon are placed in favorable posi- 

 tions along the shore, and for days the birds are 

 baited within range, then a discharge is fired into 

 a mass of ducks, and literally hundreds are killed. 

 This has been a local practice for many years. 



No birds are more essential to man than the 

 wild fowl ; they serve him with food and in many 

 regions with clothing ; the soft downy skin of the 

 eider being regularly used by many of the Eski- 

 mos for undergarments, while the down of these 

 birds is an important article of commerce in many 

 countries of the north. In Norway and Iceland 

 the breeding eiders are protected. The islands 

 are carefully watched and every facility afforded 

 the sitting ducks. Under these circumstances the 

 bird can regularly be lifted from the nest while 

 the eggs are removed, a sufficient number being 

 left to hatch. In some instances these birds 

 actually nest within the natives' houses, and there 

 is a story of a Norwegian who gave up his fire- 

 place to an eider. As opposed to the wanton 

 destruction which threatens our water-fowl almost 



