358 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



Mr. Stanley had placed a fine lot of decoys in Mud Creek, a couple of miles 

 or so from the village of Cape Vincent. Himself and Mr. Henry Morrison, one 

 of our enthusiastic local gunners, had placed themselves in the proper positions to 

 await the incoming of the expected game, when they were startled by an unex- 

 pected fusillade from a clump of undergrowth not more than thirty feet from 

 the decoys, and yet more startled to see the split, mangled and disfigured decoys 

 floating recklessly about in badly disheveled, duckly dignity. It would be hard 

 to imagine a more astonished individual than was the unlucky amateur when 

 Mr. Stanley pounced upon him with an outflow of language not only emphatic but 

 lurid. The fellow was so completely dumbfounded that he could only exclaim: 

 "Great Scott! ain't them ducks nothin' but wood?" An undeniable compliment 

 to Mr. Stanley's skill as a decoy maker. In consideration of his dense ignorance, 

 Mr. Stanley "let him down easy." And he went- away, a "wiser" if not a 

 sadder man. 



Description. "Adult male. Head green; breast chestnut; a white neck ring ; 

 speculum purple bordered by black and white; under surface of wing pure white. 

 Female. Above blackish and buffy; below rusty buff mottled with dusky grayish 

 brown." 



Other species of this family common here are the black duck {Anas obscura), 

 also a home breeder. 



The black duck closely resembles the mallard in its habits, and the "quack" 

 of the mallard, the black duck, and that of the barnyard fowl are so nearly alike 

 that one might easily be mistaken for the other. Mr. Stanley has a pair bred 

 from the black duck and the mallard, and now proposes to continue the new 

 strain in order to see the result. His opinion is that they will "breed back;" 

 and he is waiting with no little curiosity as to the outcome. A Wolf Island 

 farmer tells me of an instance in which eggs of the domestic duck, the mallard 

 and the black duck were found in the same nest not more than a rod from the 

 water's edge. 



The black duck is an exceedingly cautious bird, and not easy to take. Owing 

 to the nocturnal habits of the species, some of our local hunters formerly 

 indulged in night shooting, but with no marked result, other than to drive the 

 birds from their feeding grounds. 



Description. "Adults. Speculum bluish purple, tipped with black; no white 

 in the wing; wing lining white; crown without paler margins; throat usually 

 without markings; legs 'olivaceous' brown; bill greenish black or olive green." 



The gadwall (Anas strepard), which is not so common here, often goes by the 

 name of the "gray duck," and is often confounded with the widgeon. In fact, 



