194 WILD-FOWL 



these ducks on the Ohio River^ on the Kankakee and 

 at other places in Indiana and always found their flesh 

 palatable. Where mallards, spoon-bills, sprig-tails and 

 other large, choice ducks are abundant the little but- 

 ter-balls, as they are called, are often allowed to go 

 unmolested. One day when shooting at English Lake, 

 Indiana, we discovered a flock of seven of these birds 

 feeding in a little bay, and as my punter moved the 

 boat slowly toward them, they flew out in the direc- 

 tion of the lake, passing at long range, and I brought 

 down three with my first barrel and two with the 

 second, much to the delight of my attendant. He had 

 been celebrating the good shots by taking a drink 

 from my flask, and as he seemed to think all of my 

 shots worthy of notice the flask had been emptied, and 

 he proceeded to do honor to this occasion by drinking 

 five times from a stone jug of his own, which he had 

 brought for an emergency, and he soon became quite 

 hilarious. We were fortunately near the house, and I 

 secured a punter with more ability and less enthu- 

 siasm for the remaining days of my visit. 



The buflfle-head is distinctly a North American spe- 

 cies, and is found from the Arctic Sea to the Gulf of 

 Mexico, migrating like the other ducks in spring and 

 fall. It is in some locations called the dipper, but this 

 term is, I believe, more often applied to the hell-diver. 



THE RUDDY-DUCK. 



The ruddy-duck is the last of the sea-ducks which 

 is worthy of the sportsman's gun. It is a small duck, 

 intermediate in size between the green- winged and the 



