242 THE IMPORTANCE OF BIRD LIFE 



breech-loading shot-guns spelled their death. 

 With the development of the Middle West, duck 

 shooting came more and more into fashion. Each 

 slough, each marsh, and every small water-hole 

 became lined with blinds which hid scores of gun- 

 ners. So fast did the birds arrive at the shooting 

 grounds that a man ihight fire continuously from 

 daylight to dark, or until the barrels of his gun 

 were too hot to hold. 



There was little use for decoys in those days; 

 the ducks were too numerous for the sportsmen to 

 bother with putting them out. The ponds and 

 sloughs were small — almost too small for all the 

 ducks to crowd into. And seldom was the chance 

 offered them except at night, and then their 

 densely packed masses were likely to be mangled 

 by the discharge of a cannon crammed with shot. 



This slaughter in the Middle West continued 

 for nearly two generations, increasing as the years 

 progressed and as more deadly arms were devel- 

 oped. The result was inevitably the same as had 

 overtaken the water-fowl everywhere else. Their 

 ranks were thinned almost to obliteration. It is 

 no longer possible for a man, even if he were per- 

 mitted to do so by law, to obtain in two hours' 

 shooting, a wagon-load of ducks. Thirty birds 

 now represent a full and wholly satisfactory day's 

 shoot. 



The surviving remnants of this once incalcul- 

 able fauna of water-fowl still inhabit our coasts 



