DESCRIPTIVE LIST 55 



come in, the blind, which has no bottom, is carefully and slowly worked forward 

 until within shot of the geese. The stationary box-blinds are three and a half or 

 four feet square and are supported by posts five or six feet above the water. These 

 are usually fringed with reeds or rushes around the upper edge. Placed, as they 

 are, at the first of the season, the fowl soon become accustomed to them, and feed 

 near without fear. 



"It is indeed an interesting experience to spend the greater part of a day alone 

 in one of these frail structures, with a half gale blowing out of the frozen north 

 and the attendant boatmen drifting a mile or more away. A large stand of wooden 

 decoys is used from these blinds, a hundred and fifty ducks and fifty brant forming 

 an average outfit. The fowl that fall to the gunner's skill are later picked up by 

 the attendant. Often a few live geese are used in conjunction with the 'idols/ and 

 these prove very effective when any wild geese are flying. Geese and brant are the 

 fowl mostly killed from this type of blind, the salt-water ducks frequenting this 

 part of the sound feeding in deeper water. 



" They have a saying in the Cape Hatteras region, 'Weather to kill fowl is weather 

 to kill men!' This, however, must not be taken too literally. My own experience, 

 and that of many old wildfowlers with whom I have talked, is that medium bad 

 weather is much more likely to be productive of results than the extremes of wind 

 and cold. One day I remember being in a blind during a howling northeast gale, 

 when a single, solitary Brant made up the total of my bag, though thousands were 

 feeding within sight the whole of the time I remained in the blind. 



"Some cloudiness, a modicum of wind, with a drizzle of rain or light snow, and 

 one need not wish for more wind, cold, or downfall to help out his bag. Some days 

 just happen to be good, irrespective of the weather, while on others the fowl will 

 not draw to any character of decoys, no matter how favorable the conditions seem. 



"Wildfowl are most uncertain in their day movements, and the only general rule 

 that I can advance that may be almost always depended on is that, on good shoot- 

 ing grounds, there are strong probabilities of excellent sport during the first few 

 days after the season opens. There may be, and often are, many good days later 

 on, but no one can foretell them, and it is the hunter who goes early and often who 

 is most likely to meet with reward." H. H. BRIMLEY. 



KEY TO GENERA 



1. Neck not shorter than body; color white. (Swans.) 



1. Neck shorter than body. See 2. 



2. Tarsus reticulate all around, not shorter than middle toe without claw. (Geese.) See 3. 



2. Tarsus scutellate in front, shorter than middle toe without claw. (Ducks.) See 5. 



3. Bill and feet black; head more or less black. Branta. 



3. Bill and feet pale; head not black. See 4. 



4. Bill very stout, its depth at base more than half its length; color largely white. Chen. 



4. Bill smaller, its depth at base not half its length; color mostly brownish gray. Anser. 



5. Bill narrow, the edges of the mandibles serrated. (Fish Ducks.) See 6. 



5. Bill broad, more or less of the ordinary duck shape See 6a. 



6. Serrations of both mandibles very conspicuous, toothlike, strongly recurved at tips. 



Mergus. 



6. Serrations of both mandibles short, blunt, and not recurved at tips. Lophodytes. 

 6a. Lower portion of tarsus not scutellate in front. (Tree Ducks.) Dendrocygna. 

 6a. Lower portion of tarsus scutellate in front. See 7. 



