WILD DUCKS 151 



and breed there out of their normal range. MacVicar has 

 seen cases of this with black duck, mallard, teal, and Canada 

 goose. I was told by a fisherman at Chatham, Massachu- 

 setts, that he had seen a female old-squaw with a brood of 

 young near Strong Island, Chatham Bay, which undoubt- 

 edly was a case ol this sort. 



How the plan works out is indicated by the account by 

 Mr. Walcott of a shoot one recent autumn on an estate where 

 this method was employed. More than 1,700 ducks were 

 killed in one day by eight gims, largely those reared on the 

 estate. Very few of them were mallards, but mostly the 

 kinds usually considered hard to breed, such as pochards, 

 pintails, gadwalls, widgeons, shovellers, teal, and the like. 



It is said, however, that the method is not so successful 

 with wildfowl that are very northerly in their range, at 

 least for any permanent result in establishing a new breed- 

 ing habitat for a species, but is especially applicable to 

 species that normally breed in the same latitude. There is 

 no reason why these methods should not work in America 

 as in England, in locahties where there are suitable large 

 marshy areas. There is this difference, however, that in 

 England it is not so cold, so that some water remains open 

 all winter. Here in the Northern States everything is likely 

 to freeze up hard at some time each winter. There the 

 ducks remain the year round, but here they would be com- 

 pelled to migrate away, unless artificial methods and feeding 

 were used. The above method should be employed with the 

 greatest discrimination and only by experienced persons, and 

 with the consent of the State authorities, as otherwise it 

 would be liable to result in much cruelty and waste. 



Reasons of Failures. There are many persons fond of 

 wild waterfowl who for years have kept wild ducks, hoping 

 that they would breed, but with little result. In most cases 



