146 WILD LIFE PROTECTION FUND 



redheads, numerous green-winged teal, several widgeon and ringbills. I 

 could identify only males. These were in the numerous pond holes, and 

 many were probably cripples, but I saw a large number of green-winged 

 teal flying, though far less numerous than the blue-wing, which, with 

 the shoveller, were the most common resident ducks. It would be a con- 

 servative estimate to reckon 1,000 pairs of wild migratory ducks nesting 

 in the entire tract of waste land and marsh. 



"To a considerable extent, in my opinion these birds are but the rem- 

 nant of those which formerly did and would again remain and scatter 

 out to breed along the creeks and smaller marshes in favorable localities 

 where they might be safe from molestation. But, shooting in the spring 

 when they were looking for a breeding place has compelled either move- 

 ment northward or segregation in inaccessible marshes. That any what- 

 ever remain under existing conditions (complete negation of law by those 

 who so wish, and complete apathy on the part of the rest of the popula- 

 tion) is remarkable, and is valuable evidence indicative of what would 

 exist if conditions were improved. Incidentally, the working hypothesis 

 occurred to me that the lack of food and water, resulting from the seg- 

 regation is responsible for much of the mortality among ducks, about 

 which we have heard so much and which first came to attention at Salt 

 Lake." 



We now place upon the witness stand a veteran duck- 

 shooter of Atchison, Kansas (40 miles north of Kansas 

 City) , Mr. Eugene A. Howe, editor of the Atchison Globe, 

 whose testimony none but the most reckless of men will 

 attempt to belittle or impeach. To the people of Missouri 

 who now are being disgraced by a very few of their citi- 

 zens, and to the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, I particularly 

 commend the ivhole of the following letter : 



IMPORTANT TESTIMONY FROM AN UNIMPEACHABLE WIT- 

 NESS ON THE MISSOURI BORDER. 



The Atchisox Globe, 

 Atchison, Kansas. 



June 12, 1916. 

 Dr. W. T. Homo day, 



Director Zoological Gardens, 

 New York City, New York. 

 Dear Sir: 



As a sportsman and as an ardent duck shooter who has followed the 

 game consistently for the last fifteen years, I wish to register this protest 

 against the proposal to extend the open season in the spring later than 

 March 10. The advisory board has been extremely liberal to the Middle 

 West shooters, and their fight against the appropriation for the enforce- 

 ment of the law is not indorsed by a majority of the sportsmen in this 

 part of the country. 



