10 BULLETIN 793, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
a point 30 yards from the blind and was continued at 20-yard inter- 
vals in a straight line out from the shore to a distance of 210 yards 
from the island. About 10 quarts of silt were examined from each 
spot. Shot first appeared at a point 70 yards out and were found at 
each station to the place where sifting was stopped. The pellets were 
most abundant at a distance of 130 yards, where from 1 to 12 were 
recovered in each sieve filled with mud. 
On another day sifting was tried near Bigelow's Point, a locality 
about 2 miles west of Bayless Island. Here a blind had been located 
on a small island for at least 20 years, and another island 200 yards 
south had been used as a shooting stand for the same period. In 
addition to these, many temporary boat blinds have been built in the 
open bay offshore. Sifting was carried on here in the same manner 
as at Bayless Island in a line that included ground within shotgun 
range of both blinds. The first mud was examined at a distance of 
30 yards from Bigelow's Point, and sifting was continued at 20-yard 
intervals for a distance of 230 yards. Shot were secured from each 
sifting for the entire distance and from 1 to 13 pellets were found at 
each station. At stations more than 150 yards from the blind, from 
20 to 22 shot were recovered from each of three lots of mud taken at 
one point. The surface mud here was very soft for a depth of 12 
inches, below which was a hardened clay. The great mass of shot 
had penetrated through the soft surface layer of mud and lay at a 
depth of 10 to 12 inches. 
On this entire marsh there can be no question that 75.000 or more 
shotgun shells are used each season. As each shell contains ap- 
proximately an ounce of shot, the great accumulation of the lead 
pellets about blinds that are favorably located may be imagined 
readily. The majority of the shot that were recovered by sif ting- 
were soft : only a small part were chilled. This may serve to indi- 
cate that a large part are comparatively old. as at present chilled- 
shot loads are used. The soft shot in question were all more or less 
battered and scarred from muzzle compression as they left the gun 
or from other causes. All were dulled in color, indicating slight 
surface oxidation, but none showed any distinct corrosion, though the 
clay below the softer mud was often strongly saline. 
These facts point to a steadily increasing body of shot pellets in 
the mud of these marshes, as there are undoubtedly in other marshes 
on which shooting is extensive. 
CONCLUSIONS. 
From his own observations and from others the writer has learned 
that lead poisoning due to eating shot is of common occurrence 
among waterfowl, and from the manner in which the shot are se- 
