INTRODUCTION. 



29 



Long before the time of Audubon a decrease of the wild- 

 fowl in Chesapeake Bay had begun, but they were still 

 remarkably numerous there in his day and later. All writers 

 since then who have investigated the diminution of the birds 

 about the bay have found it progressive and continuous, not- 

 withstanding the periodical fluctuations in numbers. Grin- 

 nell (1901) says that its glories as a Duck shooting ground 

 largely have departed, that the gunning is a memory rather 

 than a reality, and that the birds are yearly becoming more 

 scarce. Similar reports have come from most of the ducking 

 grounds of the United States. This decrease of game birds has 

 been general throughout the country, except in a few far west- 

 ern States; but even on the Pacific coast the diminution of 

 shore birds and wild-fowl has been noticeable in many places. 



Dr. D. G. Elliot, author of several standard works on game 

 birds, says: "North America at one time probably contained 

 more Wild Fowl than any other country of the globe, and even 

 in the recollection of some living, the birds came down from 

 the northland during the autumn in numbers that were 

 incredible, promising a continuance of the race forever. I 

 have myself seen great masses of Ducks, and also of Geese, 

 rise at one time from the water in so dense a cloud as to 

 obscure the sky, and every suitable water-covered spot held 

 some member of the Family throughout our limits. But those 

 great armies of Wild Fowl will be seen no more in our land, 

 only the survivors of their broken ranks." ^ 



The following is an extract from a recent work. The Water 

 Fowl Family, by Sanford, Bishop and Van Dyke: "Between 

 1870 and 1875 fifteen thousand Ducks were not uncommonly 

 killed in Chesapeake Bay in a single day. Here in February 

 and March it was possible to see redheads and canvas-backs 

 in rafts miles long, containing countless thousands of birds. 

 Wild fowl up to 1860 had not been much hunted in this 

 country, and during the Civil War were unmolested. From 

 1865 began their destruction, which has been steadily increas- 

 ing since, with a result inevitable. In twenty-five years the 

 greatest natural home in the world for wild ducks has been 



' Elliot, D. G.; Wild Fowl of North America, 1898, Intro., pp. 21, 22. 



