WILD-FOWL, OR SWIMMERS 141 



The geese and brant also come each year in greatly 

 diminished numbers. The brant are often called 

 brant- or brent-geese, since they resemble the com- 

 mon wild-goose, being smaller. The sea-ducks and 

 the river-ducks are not easily approached, but most 

 of them come to decoys, and their numbers are an- 

 nually reduced at an alarming rate. The sea-ducks 

 have larger feet, and the legs are further back than those 

 of the river-ducks. They are therefore better swim- 

 mers and divers, but their progression on land is more 

 difficult. The terms sea-ducks and river-ducks used by 

 the ornithologists are somewhat misleading, since the 

 sea-ducks, such as canvas-backs, red-heads, and scaups, 

 and most of the others, are found often on the rivers 

 and lakes far from the sea, and thousands annually 

 travel the great valleys of the Missouri and Mississippi 

 rivers upon their spring and fall migration. The 

 terms deep-water ducks, or divers, and shoal-water 

 ducks' or dabblers, are more accurate, since the can- 

 vas-backs and other sea-ducks prefer the deep-water, 

 and dive long distances under it in their search for 

 food, while the shoal-water ducks feed by dabbling or 

 tipping like the common barn-yard ducks. 



The number of wild-fowl which came formerly to the 

 bays and lagoons along the Eastern coasts, was almost 

 beyond belief. Flocks were often in sight following 

 each other in quick succession for days at a time. 

 There were acres of ducks on the water. In the far 

 West I have seen such sights, and can readily believe 

 the accounts of the former abundance of these birds 

 about the coast. 



Persistent shooting, especially for the markets, has 



