46 AMERICAN GAME. 
within range of their stool ducks, which are set out on 
the edge of the reeds. They are fond of the seeds of the 
wild oats that flourish so profusely on the flats of the 
Delaware, and their flesh soon becomes delicate and 
juicy.” 
Of this statement I doubt not the correctness, although 
what I have written above is founded on my personal 
observation, having shot wild fowl in the United States 
only on the Long Island and New Jersey shores, or the 
inland rivers of the Atlantic coasts, and on the great 
lakes, where decoy ducks cannot readily be procured. 
In England and on the continent of Europe Mallards 
are netted in great numbers in decoy ponds fabricated 
for that purpose, a full account of which, with plans, 
will be found in Beurich’s British Birds, vol. ii.; but as 
this method is not adopted in the United States, it is 
needless further to allude to it. 
“Like the Dusky Duck,” says Mr. Giraud, in his very 
clever and agreeable manual on the birds of Long Island, 
“when pursued by the sportsman, it becomes shy, and 
feeds at night, dozing away the day out of gun-shot from 
the shore. 
“arly in the month of July, 1837, while hunting 
over the meadows for smaller game, I came upon a pair 
of Mallard Ducks, moving slowly down the celebrated 
‘ Brick-house creek.’ The thought occurred to me that 
they were a pair of tame ducks that had become tired 
of the monotony of domestic life, and determined on 
