Conservation Commission. 289 



All preserve^bred mallard and black ducks must be killed and 

 officially tagged in accordance with the regulations of the State 

 Conservation Commission. Breeders can depend upon it that a 

 very little trouble on their part will suffice to place all these opera- 

 tions on a thoroughly practical and sensible working basis. It is 

 not possible for preserve-bred ducks to be killed by shooting when 

 they are to be sold as food, because every large duck-pond, well 

 populated with mallard ducks, attract annually a certain number 

 of wild ducks which under no circumstances can be shot according 

 to the law, and marketed. Preserve-bred ducks must be caught 

 and killed by hand ; and pinioning renders this easily possible. 



There are a few persons who claim that it is unsportsmanlike to 

 kill a mallard duck " by hand ;" but to this we reply that it is ten 

 times more unsportsmanlike to shoot tame, preserve-bred mal- 

 lards as they fly from their coops to their pond ! 

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