THE MALLARD 213 



Mr. Thompson, of Oregon, in a recent article in 

 Outing, says: " The mallard {Anas boschas) is per- 

 haps the favorite of all duck-hunters in the far West 

 as well as elsewhere. It sometimes nests along the 

 Columbia, though ordinarily it goes farther north. 

 Like the teal it has its favorite feeding haunts morning 

 and evening, and its favorite resting places, usually 

 during the middle of the day, in the middle of some 

 large slough far out of range. To some extent, how- 

 ever, its movements can be controlled by feeding." 



The most familiar method of shooting mallards is 

 over decoys. The best places are shallow, muddy, 

 and somewhat inaccessible ponds in the vast marshes 

 of wild-rice. Mr. Denny, of Pittsburgh, recently had 

 little difficulty in making a bag of one hundred and 

 four mallards in such a -pond, "the little mud hole," 

 on the preserve of the Ottawa Club in Northern Ohio. 

 The bag was made during the morning flight. 



Upon approaching the place where the decoys are 

 to be set out, the ducks which are feeding in the pond 

 will all fly out. The sportsman of experience will not 

 shoot them then, no matter how tempting the shot 

 may be. He knows that ducks can reason well and 

 that if they are shot at as they depart, they will be 

 less inclined to return again, and a shot at such a time 

 is a notice of the danger to all the ducks which have 

 been feeding in the pond or slough. 



After all the ducks have gone without unnecessary 

 alarm, the decoys are quickly placed, usually before a 

 blind already made, and at the club preserves at places 

 where the ducks have been baited with corn and wheat 

 by the gamekeepers long before the season opens. 



