8 BULLETIN 1049, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



delphia, Baltimore, New Orleans, St. Louis, Chicago, and San Fran- 

 cisco, but with the progressive adoption of nonsale laws the legal 

 traffic has been greatly restricted until it has now disappeared. 

 With the passage of the Federal migratory-bird law in 1913 and the 

 prohibition of spring shooting, and with seasons shortened to not 

 more than three and a half months in any one State, the number of 

 birds killed has been still further reduced. With the approval on 

 July 3, 1918, of the migratory-bird treaty act, the sale of all migra- 

 tory game birds was forbidden throughout the United States and 

 Alaska. Notwithstanding all these restrictions several million water- 

 fowl are still shot every year, and these birds furnish an important 

 source of food in nearly every State. In considering the number of 

 birds which have been reported as shot or shipped to market at 

 various times, it is necessary to bear in mind the factors above 

 mentioned and the changes which have been due to the legislation of 

 recent years. 



In certain favorable sections waterfowl are again congregating 

 in considerable numbers where formerly the market hunter was 

 accustomed to ply his trade almost without limit. On the Atlantic 

 coast, ducking grounds have made famous the areas on the south side 

 of Long Island, New York; at Barnegat Bay, New Jersey; at the 

 head of Chesapeake Bay, Maryland ; and on Currituck Sound. North 

 Carolina. In the Mississippi Valley duck-shooting resorts are almost 

 equally famous in Vermilion Parish and in the delta of the Missis- 

 sippi, Louisiana ; at Lake Surprise, Texas ; in the Sunken Lands of 

 Arkansas ; at Beelf oot Lake, Tennessee ; on the Illinois River ; on the 

 Sandusky marshes in Ohio; on Lake St. Clair and Saginaw Bay, 

 Michigan; in the lake region of Wisconsin; and in southwestern 

 Minnesota. Farther west, the Platte River, Nebraska ; the Arkansas 

 bottoms, Kansas; Bear River, Utah; Klamath Lake, Oregon; and 

 the marshes of the Sacramento River, Suisun Bay, Los Banos, and 

 Firebaugh, and certain localities in Orange County and in the Im- 

 perial Valley, California, are celebrated ducking grounds. One of 

 the greatest centers for wild fowl in the country is in the vicinity of 

 Great Salt Lake and on the marshes of Bear River, Utah. During 

 the prevalence there of the so-called duck disease, between the years 

 1910 and 1916, it was estimated that more than 1,000,000 birds per- 

 ished — an indication of the enormous numbers of birds which fre- 

 quent these marshes in autumn. 



The only system thus far devised of recording accurately or even 

 of estimating the number of ducks killed is that of Minnesota, based 

 on the reports of licensed hunters. In other States all that is pos- 

 sible is to refer to estimates which have been made of the number 

 of birds at certain localities or of the numbers which have been 



