XIX 



THE WILD-FOWL, OR SWIMMERS 



THE wild-fowl of the sportsmen are the swimmers 

 {anatidcB) of the ornithologists. There are two 

 hundred species of these birds in the world and about 

 sixty of them in North America. The swimmers are 

 second only in importance to the gallinaceous birds. It 

 is possible that a majority of sportsmen would reverse 

 the order and place the swimmers first. Elliot is of 

 the opinion that the duck-shooters are in the majority. 

 The order of swimmers contains a greater number of 

 large, fine game birds than the order gallinas, and many 

 of these are noted for their handsome plumage; one 

 of them, the wood-duck, is the handsomest water-fowl 

 in the world. The pursuit of these birds takes the 

 sportsman to the bays, lagoons, and marshes about the 

 coast, and to the lakes, ponds, and rivers of the interior. 

 The pleasures derived from sailing and boating are 

 added to the shooting, and the vast marshes over- 

 grown with tall reeds and rushes and many wild 

 grasses and aquatic plants are charmingly pictu- 

 resque. Much skill is required in approaching and 

 shooting the game. 



There are five families of swimmers — the swans, the 

 geese, the sea-ducks, the river-ducks, and the mergan- 

 sers. To these Elliot adds two sub-families, one to 

 include the wood-duck and the other the spine-tailed 

 ducks; but from the sportsman's point of view the 



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