162 APPENDIX 



fully handled; and if so the result of such industry will 

 be highly profitable. 



Mr. Cooke says the principal causes of the diminished 

 numbers of water fowl have been market hunting, spring 

 shooting and the destruction of the breeding grounds for 

 farming purposes. 



Market shooting safely can be resumed, of course, 

 when the birds are reared in large numbers, and the de- 

 struction of the breeding grounds can be prevented when 

 it appears that the duck crop is valuable. Spring shoot- 

 ing vyill not be done by breeders, of course. 



The distribution and migration of the ducks desirable 

 for food as given by Mr. Cooke is as follows : 



Anas boschas Linn. Mallard. 



Breeding Range. — The northern half of the United 

 States west of Pennsylvania, and the whole of Canada 

 west of Hudson Bay, constitute the principal breeding 

 range in the Western Hemisphere of the mallard — the 

 commonest duck on the North American continent and 

 probably in the world. In eastern North America the 

 place of the mallard is taken by the black duck, and the 

 former is rather rare, though a few breed in eastern On- 

 tario about Lake Erie, locally in western New York and 

 south to Maryland. Though unknown as a breeder on 

 the mainland east of Hudson Bay, the mallard is rather 

 common in Greenland, breeding north to Godthaab and 

 Angmagsalik and wandering to Upernavik. Throughout 

 New England and the Maritime Provinces it is a rare 

 migrant, and while some of the records of its breeding in 

 these districts may be correct, it is no more than a casual 

 summer resident. 



