CHAPTER X. 



WILD DUCKS AND WESTERN DDCK-SHOOTING. 



The best of the ducks which are found in the 

 Western States are Canvas-backs, Redheads, Mal- 

 lards, Pintails, Blue-bells, Blue and Green winged 

 Teal, Widgeon, and Black Ducks. There are also 

 Wood-ducks, which, though most beautiful in pju- 

 mage, are not very fine on the table. Some are, 

 however, shot for the sake of their feathers, which 

 are exported to -England, where the brilliant hues 

 of part of their plumage are used in the manu- 

 facture of artificial flies for salmon and trout fish- 

 ing. And besides the species mentioned above, 

 there are two or three ducks of other sorts, which, 

 being scarce and comparatively worthless, are of 

 no account to the sportsman, and need not be 

 further alluded to in this work. The wood-duck 

 breeds in Illinois and the other Western States 

 along the rivers and creeks, and always in or on 

 the edge of timber. It is rather numerous along 

 the Sangamon and the shores of Salt Creek. They 

 make their nests in hollows of trees, and are the 



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