BIRDS HUNTED FOR FOOD OR SPORT. 109 



abroad than here. In Belgium large numbers are reared in 

 captivity, and they are in great demand as ornamental water- 

 fowl. It may be that the bird can be saved from extinction 

 only by rearing it upon preserves and large estates, and re- 

 taining enough in confinement each winter to perpetuate the 

 species. It is now (1911) protected by law at all times in 

 New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, 

 Vermont and Maine. 



Since the law protecting it went into effect in Massa- 

 chusetts, New Hampshire and Connecticut, the Wood Duck, 

 which had become rare, has increased in numbers consider- 

 ably in the two latter States and somewhat in Massachusetts, 

 particularly during the past year (1910), when spring shooting 

 was prohibited. One hundred and five Massachusetts corre- 

 spondents in 1908 report it as breeding in the State. These 

 reports come from every county except Nantucket, although 

 no Ducks breed in Suffolk County, the center of popula- 

 tion. Formerly the spring duck shooters often killed breeding 

 Wood Ducks, either by mistake or intention, but in 1910, as 

 a result of spring protection, the species nested in many local- 

 ities where it had not been seen before for years. Some States 

 do not protect this bird at all; many others allow shooting 

 for a part of the spring. Wood Ducks begin mating in the 

 south in December, January or February, and are mostly 

 mated when they arrive in the north. If all the eastern 

 States would enact laws forbidding spring shooting, and pro- 

 tecting the Wood Duck at all times, a few years would suffice 

 to repopulate the country with this beautiful bird. 



In flight the W^ood Duck is swift and direct when in the 

 open, but it can penetrate among the many branches of the 

 woods as swiftly and surely as a Ruffed Grouse or a Passenger 

 Pigeon, twisting and turning rapidly in avoiding the many 

 obstacles in its way. It nests usually near the water; but 

 if no hollow tree or stump is to be found near its chosen 

 feeding grounds, it will find one farther away, in an old 

 orchard, a hollow elm overhanging a farm-house or some 

 old tree by the roadside. I have been informed that the 

 eggs of the Wood Duck are sometimes laid on the ground 



