WATERFOWL IN NEBRASKA. 7 
region offers there is little difficulty in inducing water birds to breed 
in numbers almost anywhere, and when they are not disturbed they 
become exceedingly tame and unsuspicious. On Dewey Lake, in 
eastern Cherry County, where the writer remained about two weeks, 
blue-winged teal and coots, apparently unmindful of the presence 
of human beings, would come regularly, morning and evening, into 
a little lagoon in the very yard not over 40 or 50 feet from the 
house, and on more than one occasion a mallard brought her brood 
of young there. This, as much as anything, shows how quickly the 
ducks respond to proper encouragement. At the Palmer Ranch, near 
the head of the North Loup River, the proprietors regularly feed the 
ducks and other game birds in autumn, on account of which the 
birds become almost semidomesticated. Among the ranchmen in 
general there is apparently an increase in sentiment against hunting 
on their land, which augurs well for the water-bird population, since 
the small number of birds taken by the local inhabitants does not 
seriously affect the numbers of even the breeding species. In line 
with this, it is interesting to note that where the winding trails that 
answer for roads in much of this country pass through the fences 
of the ranch pastures the sign " No hunting!" guards many of the 
gates. 
The shooting of ducks in spring while they are migrating and pre- 
paring to settle down to the duties of rearing families has two 
very injurious results. In the first place, if a female be killed, it 
means not only the loss of that individual bird but of the 8 to 
12 young which she would in the course of a month or two add to 
the waterfowl population. Secondly, the disturbances caused by 
frequent visits of hunters and the noise of continual discharging of 
firearms on the breeding grounds greatly annoy the birds and often 
prevent their breeding in the neighborhood. In fact, spring shoot- 
ing had practically driven ducks away from some of the best lakes 
in the sandhill region. Again, shooting too early in autumn is dis- 
astrous, for if the hunting season opens before the young ducks are 
able to take care of themselves they fall ready victims to the gun 
of the sportsman, or by the death of their parents they are left to 
shift for themselves before they are able to gain an independent 
livelihood. In the sandhill region the breeding season is chiefly 
during May and June, and practically all the ducks are strong on 
the wing by the first or middle of September ; so that present laws, 
properly enforced, will give sufficient protection at this season. 
The protection and preservation of waterfowl as well as other 
game is not based wholly, as often seems to be the impression, on the 
ethical grounds of the preservation of the species, and therefore 
of interest to the naturalist only ; it is also a matter of fundamental 
