32 A NATURAL HISTORY OF THE DUCKS 



ing-men. I remember the late Wilton Lockwood used to say that a man ought to be 

 hanged for shooting a Teal, yet he was as keen as any one in the pursuit of Black 

 Ducks and Golden-eyes. Lockwood was an artist and a very successful breeder of 

 water-fowl, but toward the last of his life his earlier hobby was dropped, and he be- 

 came a lover of flowers, which shows again how sentiment may change with age. 

 In my own case I must say that I am more and more inclined to agree with Frank 

 Forester, who held ordinary duck-shooting from a blind in very low esteem. After 

 all, real sport is measured by its demand upon skill, patience, and woodcraft, and 

 shooting baited ducks over a large flock of decoys, while seated in a comfortable box, 

 to say nothing of a punter and a dog to chase the cripples, does not call for a very 

 large measure of any of these qualities. 



The English science of punting for ducks with a big gun is commonly considered 

 in this country as entirely beyond the pale, but as a matter of fact any method by 

 which ducks are stalked is far more sportsmanlike than where the birds are brought 

 to the shooter. I have often thought that sculling after Black Ducks in a white- 

 covered float among the ice-cakes and snow-fields of our New England marshes was 

 the most difficult, exciting, and perhaps dangerous way of getting fowl which I have 

 ever engaged in. So again the ethics of sport are more or less comparative, and not 

 absolute. In places where ducks are very shy and scarce, one does not hesitate to 

 use live decoys, but where they are plentiful, these aids are not necessary and really 

 detract from the pleasure. 



So much for the great science of duck-shooting. Every one has his favorite meth- 

 ods, his pet memories; but as for me, regardless of ethics, let me hark back to before 

 the days when night shooting was a misdemeanor, and let me watch the fading day- 

 light on the wintry, wind-swept marsh, where some strip of sand dunes stands out a 

 glowing rose-color in the darkening east, and with a few crude bunches of seaweed 

 decoys for company, let me strain my ears during that magic half-hour of twilight 

 for the regular "swish-swish-swish" of incoming ducks and then suddenly see those 

 marvelous black silhouettes, as a troop of "duskies" cuts in, and with down-curved 

 wings and lowered necks crosses the still rosy band of western sky. 



ENEMIES 

 With enemies, again, it is not necessary to deal just here, but they may as well be 

 briefly classified. First and foremost, of course, comes man, but his work will be con- 

 sidered under the head of " Status," for his damage is mostly recent. Among mam- 

 mals nearly all the small carnivores are destructive at times, and more particularly 

 the mongoose, rat, stoat, and fox when introduced into new environments. Even 

 the domestic cat has taken to feeding upon water-fowl in Australia and in our own 

 West, and hogs at times interfere with breeding grounds. The otter is sometimes 

 very destructive to pinioned ducks on enclosed ponds. 



