Sept, 1914 
SURVEY OF BREEDING GROUNDS OF DUCKS 
233 
It sought shelter in the sage brush, being able to run very fast in spite of its 
immaturity. 
Recurvirostra americana. Avocet. Avocets were nesting on both sides of 
the lake, but perhaps most commonly on the east side where muddy peninsulas 
along the edge of the lake furnished desirable nesting sites. Not a single Stilt 
was seen on Lower Klamath Lake. 
NUMBERS OP DUCKS NOW AND FORMERLY 
Wherever possible, people resident in the vicinity of the places visited 
were interviewed with regard to the present status of ducks in each locality as 
compared with previous conditions. In all instances the evidence so obtained 
pointed to the fact that the numbers of breeding birds have greatly decreased 
in the past ten years. Mr. C. H. Glaser, a dependable observer who has been 
located on the west shore of Lower Klamath Lake for the past fifteen years, 
says that he has noticed a considerable fluctuation in the numbers of nesting 
ducks, but that there has been a marked general tendency to decrease. Simi- 
lar statements were current in the other localities visited. Most of the testi- 
mony attributed the decrease of the resident birds largely to the market hunt- 
ing and excessive shooting formerly carried on during the winter. 
MARKET HUNTING 
Many people in Los Banos formerly hunted ducks for the market and 
almost everyone in the town is able to tell of remarkable kills. A Mr. Becker, 
with whom I talked, told of seeing Sischo, a famous market hunter of the re- 
gion, kill 400 ducks with six shots. Sischo and two assistants worked up 
within range by using steers — “bull-hunting”, this method is called. Two dis- 
charges from a number four, double-barrelled, muzzle-loading shotgun were 
fired by Sischo at the birds while they were resting on the water ; then his two 
assistants, each armed with the same kind of gun, fired four more shots as the 
birds were rising. Mr. Becker who had started to hunt in the neighborhood at 
the time, was presented with twenty-two ducks as a reward for not disturbing 
the quarry while the “sneak” was being made. It was also commonly re- 
ported that this same hunter and an assistant killed 198 geese in ten shots, 
using automatics. 
When market hunting was at its height trained steers used in hunting 
commonly sold for three hundred dollars each. Since the law went into effect 
prohibiting the use of trained animals in hunting any other game birds except- 
ing geese, the market-hunter attempts to escape apprehension as a “bull- 
hunter” in the following way. He hitches two horses to a light cart, one of 
which is to be unhitched and used as a movable blind. The harness is so ad- 
justed that this horse can be instantly hitched up again should anyone be seen 
approaching. 
In past years Sischo kept camps of men who spent their entire time hunt- 
ing for the market. In order to ship large numbers of birds, exceeding the 
daily legal bag limit, he is said to have paid men one dollar a day for permis- 
sion to use their names in shipping. Judging from reports, this one hunter 
shipped as high as 500 birds a day to the markets in San Francisco. 
A talk with a market hunter who lives on the east shore of Lower Kla- 
math Lake brought forth the statement that fifteen years ago it was possible 
to shoot 150 ducks a day and then pick only the more desirable ones such as 
Canvasbacks and Mallards. It would be impossible at the present time to make 
such records, even if the law permitted. 
