The Water-fowl of the Pacific Coast 527 



of his companions discover it. But do not imagine 

 he is any easy victim because he sits in the grass. 

 He is wide awake even there, though he may make 

 an occasional mistake about the attainments of a 

 tenderfoot who is not too much afraid of grass 

 stains on his pants. There is little or no special 

 shooting on this duck, as there sometimes is on 

 the sprigtail or canvas-back. Though like any of 

 the ducks he may sometimes be found alone, he 

 is generally in mixed company and is hunted in 

 about the same manner as the rest of the tribe. 



THE GADWALL 



Nature surpasses all art in the combination of 

 simple colors she has made in the gadwall or gray 

 duck. Black, white, gray, and brown, as woven 

 in its gamy robe, have made beauty as perfect 

 as it could have been made with more brilliant 

 colors, so that there is hardly any feathered game 

 on which we look with much more satisfaction 

 than on the fallen gadwall. It is the same on 

 this coast as elsewhere, and is now so wild and 

 wary that it is rarely in much danger from any 

 but the expert. Even with him its charming 

 addition to the bag is too often accidental, for 

 it is rarely found in sufficient numbers to be 

 worthy of a special hunt, and it is quite common 

 to have a fair flight of ducks keep your gun warm 

 without the presence of the gray duck. It is less 



