4 BULLETIN 794, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTUEE. 



great numbers both south and north of Nebraska. The migration 

 flights here, however, are still large and show that there remains 

 a good supply of waterfowl, which with proper protection and 

 reasonable regulation of shooting will continue indefinitely to fur- 

 nish excellent sport. The breeding waterfowl of the sandhills also 

 have suffered from hunters, particularly in spring. On many of 

 the lakes there are clubhouses owned by sportsmen from cities out- 

 side of the county, who were long in the habit of shooting here 

 regularly in spring. As a natural consequence, the breeding ducks 

 were seriously interfered with and very greatly reduced in numbers. 



The regulations issued by the Department of Agriculture under 

 Federal laws protecting migratory birds have prohibited spring 

 shooting throughout the United States as a necessary means of pro- 

 tecting ducks during the spring migration and the early part of 

 the breeding season. Since the enactment of the Federal statute 

 of 1913, known as the Federal migratory-bird law, there has been 

 comparati,vely little spring shooting in the sandhill region, for the 

 law seems to have been very well observed. In fact, there seems to 

 be among the inhabitants of the country much sentiment in favor of 

 the abolition of spring shooting, and in this respect no hostility to 

 the Federal law, for many people who live here seem to regard the 

 ducks as undesirable and unfit for food in spring. 



In all the localities that the writer visited he made careful in- 

 quiries regarding the effect that the stopping of spring shooting has 

 had on the numbers of waterfowl, particularly ducks. It is very 

 gratifying to note that after the Federal law went into effect ducks 

 began steadily to increase in Nebraska, particularly in the lakes of 

 eastern Cherry County, those about the headwaters of the North 

 Loup Biver, and at the Cody Lakes. As one resident expressed it, 

 as soon as the ducks find out that they will not be disturbed in 

 spring, they come back in increasingly large numbers. 



FUTURE OF WATERFOWL IN THE SANDHILL REGION. 



In its natural state — ^that is, unaffected by the presence of man — 

 the sandhill region of Nebraska is an ideal breeding place for 

 waterfowl. It is, indeed, one of the very best of the remaining 

 breeding grounds. The great number of marshy lakes, with their 

 abundant supply of food, shelter, and breeding places, together 

 with the relative absence of enemies, provide advantages which it 

 would be difficult to surpass; and it would be interesting to know 

 the exact conditions here before the advent of the white man. For 

 various reasons the group of lakes in eastern Cherry County and the 

 lakes of Garden and Morrill Counties are at present by far the 

 most important from the standpoint of protection of ducks on their 



