1891
June
Description of Eel Pond Marshes (No. 2)
North Truro, Mass.
Wilson's Snipe which still haunt the place in
limited numbers at the proper seasons.
  With the Cat-tails came t he Ruddy Ducks
Gallinules and Rails. The first-named birds
appeared in 1870, according to Warren W. Small
to whom I am indebted for most of the 
facts here given. For eight or ten years subsequent
to this date a flock of about 25 birds regularly
arrived from the South in April, separated into
pairs and nested about the shores of the 
pond. During the summer broods of young
aggregating at least sixty or seventy birds could 
be seen any day swimming about with their
parents. A few were sometimes shot and sent 
to Boston in bunches of Plover or other waders
but they were seldom molested to any serious
extent. The local birds, both old and young,
departed for the south later in August or
early in September. After an interval of 
several weeks, during which few if any of
these Ducks were to be found in the pond,
a heavy flight of more northern-bred birds 
would appear early in October, many lingering
through the month and most of November, also.
   About 1880 the gunners found that Ruddy
Ducks could be sold in the Boston market
for the small sum of ten cents each and
the slaughter began, first the broods of summer
birds, afterwards the migrants, being assailed
with merciless energy. Bags of 75 birds to
a single gun were often made in one day