BIRDS HUNTED FOR FOOD OR SPORT. 73 



in winter, though decreasing. The Houston, Tex., Post of 

 January 29, 1908, states that during the previous week five 

 citizens came upon a small lake into which the birds were 

 flocking in great numbers. They flushed the game and emptied 

 their repeating guns, gathering up afterwards one hundred 

 and seven killed, not counting the wounded or missing; these 

 were mainly Mallards. 



Reports from many parts of the country indicate a decrease 

 in Mallards of from fifty to ninety per cent, in the last thirty 

 years. Mr. Edward L. Parker states that they were plentiful in 

 Texas in 1898, but they have decreased rapidly since then. All 

 my 1908 reports from every part of the Atlantic and Gulf 

 coasts, outside of Massachusetts, indicate a decrease in the 

 birds, except one from Cormecticut, which estimates an increase 

 of ten per cent, in a few years past. As the Mallard's breeding 

 grounds in America lie mainly west of the meridian of Hud- 

 son Bay, and as its place in New England is largely taken up 

 by the Black Duck, it is not common here. It is a hardy 

 species, for, although it breeds normally in the United States 

 and Canada, it goes very far north, and remains all winter in 

 Alaska and Greenland in places where it can find open water 

 and good feeding grounds. Judging from my own experience, 

 I have leaned to the opinion that there had been a recent in- 

 crease in the numbers of this species in Massachusetts, but the 

 reports from observers in different parts of the State, received 

 in 1908, do not support this view. Seventeen observers report 

 an increase in the number of Mallards in the State, and sixty- 

 three note a decrease. These reports certainly indicate a 

 considerable decrease in the State. The reports of increase 

 come mainly from Plymouth, Bristol and Barnstable counties, 

 but those reporting decrease in those counties number more 

 than twice as many as those reporting increase. Mallards 

 have been rather common for many years in some of the 

 ponds near Middleborough, Mass., and they are sometimes 

 seen in considerable numbers locally in various parts of the 

 six New England States. In years when they breed well, or 

 possibly when food is more plentiful than usual in New Eng- 

 land, flights of Mallards are seen. Dr. Townsend notes one 



