i88 WILD-FOWL 



America. It is often found in company and con- 

 founded with the little scaup. It is nowhere a com- 

 mon species. It has been known to nest in Maine, 

 Wisconsin, and Minnesota. It is seen more often in- 

 land than on the coast, and has the same habits and 

 rapid flight as the little black-head, from which it is 

 distinguished by the ring more or less distinct about 

 its neck. The ring-neck goes in small flocks and is 

 probably more abundant in the Mississippi valley 

 than elsewhere. It comes readily to the decoys. 

 These three ducks may be shot from the same blind, 

 over the same decoys, big or little. 



The scaups are fairly abundant on the bays or la- 

 goons on the south side of Long Island, which are 

 separated from the sea by long narrow beaches, fa- 

 miliar to those who know the Atlantic Coast. Here 

 they are still shot from the battery over large flocks 

 of a hundred or more decoys. 



I began shooting scaups when a student at New 

 Haven, and usually spent the spring vacations in their 

 company, shooting with a market gunner who knew 

 the bay and the ducks, and who owned a good battery 

 and a large lot of well-painted decoys. 



Long before daybreak this fine old salt tapped on 

 my door (I made his cabin my home) and announced 

 that breakfast was ready, and the savory odor of the 

 meal came with the light from his lantern through the 

 crack beneath the door. Having breakfasted, we 

 went out into the night, and embarking in his sail-boat, 

 which carried the battery and decoys, we slipped 

 quietly down the creek which led to the bay. We 

 expected to beat his neighbor, another professional 



