216 WILD-FOWL 



are something of a nuisance as they come dripping 

 wet into a boat and proceed to shake the icy water all 

 over one, but it has been well said it is unreasonable 

 to ask the "devoted but shivering creature that he 

 should remain standing in the freezing water or upon 

 the damp sedge." 



The mallards have been reported as very abundant 

 in California within the past year or two. In a San 

 Francisco paper it was stated that the farmers in 

 Glenn County were employing men to herd them off 

 their sprouting grain, and were slaughtering vast num- 

 bers of the birds, which were allowed to stay on the 

 ground where they fell. Such abundance will be of 

 short duration, however, if history repeats itself, as on 

 this point it always has. 



The sportsman who goes to shoot mallards (and the 

 other ducks as well) must make an early start. He is 

 often on the ground at the break of day. There is 

 compensation always for early rising in the scene. 

 The gorgeous panorama which attends the change 

 from star-lit night to the broad light of day is best 

 seen in the marshes and at sea. 



The sleepy-heads who linger in the town are un- 

 aware of the pictures which the mallard shooter sees. 

 These are always charming, ever new, sometimes sim- 

 ple, but often sublime. The weather effects which a 

 painter knows are seen best in the vast marshes where 

 the mallards dwell. 



The attendant will conduct the sportsman to the 

 most likely places, but I have often enjoyed the trip 

 alone or in company with a friend who also punted his 

 own boat and set his own decoys. I have thoroughly 



