WATERFOWL IIsT NEBRASKA. 7 



region offers there is little difficulty in inducing water birds to breed 

 in numbers almost anywhere, and when they are not disturbed they 

 become exceedingly tame and • unsuspicious. On Dewey Lake, in 

 eastern Cherry County, where the writer remained about two weeks, 

 blue-winged teal and coots, apparently unmindful of the presence 

 of human beings, would come regularly, morning and evening, into 

 a little lagoon in the very yard not over 40 or 50 feet from the 

 house, and on more than one occasion a mallard brought her brood 

 of young there. This, as much as anything, shows how quickly the 

 ducks respond to proper encouragement. At the Palmer Eanch, near 

 the head of the North Loup Eiver, the proprietors regularly feed the 

 ducks and other game birds in autumn, on account of which the 

 birds become almost semidomesticated. Among the ranchmen in 

 general there is apparently an increase in sentiment against hunting 

 on their land, which augurs well for the water-bird population, since 

 the small number of birds taken by the local inhabitants does not 

 seriously affect the numbers of even the breeding species. In line 

 with this, it is interesting to note that where the winding trails that 

 answer for roads in much of this country pass through the fences 

 of the ranch pastures the sign " Xo hunting!" guards many of the 

 gates. 



The shooting of ducks in spring while they are migrating and pre- 

 paring to settle down to the duties of rearing families has two 

 very injurious results. In the first place, if a female be killed, it 

 means not only the loss of that individual bird but of the 8 to 

 12 young which she would in the course of a month or two add to 

 the waterfowl population. Secondly, the disturbances caused by 

 frequent visits of hunters and the noise of continual discharging of 

 firearms on the breeding grounds greatly annoy the birds and often 

 prevent their breeding in the neighborhood. In fact, spring shoot- 

 ing had practically' driven ducks away from some of the best lakes 

 in the sandhill region. Again, shooting too early in autumn is dis- 

 astrous, for if the hunting season opens before the young ducks are 

 able to take care of themselves they fall ready victims to the gun 

 of the sportsman, or by the death of their parents they are left to 

 shift for themselves before they are able to gain an independent 

 livelihood. In the sandhill region the breeding season is chiefly 

 during May and June, and practically all the ducks are strong on 

 the wing by the first or middle of September ; so that present laws, 

 properly enforced, will give sufficient protection at this season. 



The protection and preservation of waterfowl as well as other 

 game is not based wholly, as often seems to be the impression, on the 

 ethical grounds of the preservation of the species, and therefore 

 of interest to the naturalist only ; it is also a matter of fundamental 



