142 NYROCA VALISINERIA 



then, after Canvas-backs had come to them, drifted down upon them in a shallow 

 skiff. 



Flight shooting at ducks passing over necks of land was very successful in the 

 upper Chesapeake, especially at such places as Carrol's Island. Many were shot from 

 points over a big stool of wooden decoys, and still are for that matter, but it is un- 

 usual nowadays to make a large score off a point unless the weather is very rough 

 and the birds fly by near enough to be drifted close to the point by the force of the 

 wind. A bad time for Canvas-backs is during one of the freezes which closes such 

 sounds as Currituck, but leaves open air-holes which can be reached over the ice. 

 At such times I have seen the market shooters take huge toll of Canvas-backs by 

 shooting from a bush blind at the edge of the hole. In the Chesapeake they used to 

 go to the trouble of cutting holes in the ice near the shore, in order to decoy the birds 

 within range. I have done this myself at Currituck but have never gotten many 

 Canvas-backs. 



Of course there are many places where Canvas-backs will come right into enclosed 

 waters with Red-heads, Widgeon and other ducks and in these places they are 

 decoyed easily by putting out a sufficient number of white-backed wooden decoys. 



It might not be out of place here to note a few dates in the progress of game con- 

 servation in the United States; to follow the spread of State protection and the grad- 

 ual removal of wild-fowl from the markets of the country up to the time of their com- 

 plete exclusion in 1918. In 1901 Michigan prohibited the sale of all protected game, 

 and this action closed the markets of Detroit and other cities in the State to the sale 

 of water-fowl. In 1903 Illinois prohibited traffic in water-fowl killed in the State, 

 which had the effect of closing the markets of Chicago to the sale of ducks killed 

 along the Illinois River and curtailed traffic in water-fowl in that center very ma- 

 terially. A similar law was passed by Pennsylvania in 1917, but as the supply of 

 ducks sold in Philadelphia was chiefly received from other States, the effect was less 

 than in the case of the Illinois statute. In 1905 Missouri and Oregon prohibited the 

 sale of practically all game, thus closing the markets of St. Louis and Portland to the 

 sale of ducks. In 1911 New York passed the Bayne law prohibiting the sale of native 

 game, but permitting traffic, under a tagging system, in certain kinds of imported 

 game and game raised in captivity. In 1915 a similar law was enacted in Massachu- 

 setts. The sale of water-fowl persisted in the markets of Baltimore, Washington, New 

 Orleans, and San Francisco, although under some restrictions until the passage of the 

 Federal Law of 1918. 



Behavior in Captivity. Although the Canvas-back has always been so greatly 

 admired it has not been kept under fence as often as one would suppose. Adult- 

 caught birds do not live as well as Red-heads, and like Scaups are apt to die in the 

 course of a year or two. None of mine ever lived over two years, but no doubt this 



