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general public in localities where many such spots are already under private 
control and open to none but a privileged few. Just how far it is possible 
to proceed along these lines will depend altogether on the attitude of the 
interested public. 
The grain-eating proclivities of some Ducks is a factor that cannot be 
quite overlooked. It seems hardly believable to experienced eastern 
shooters that wild Ducks can occur in such numbers as to be seriously 
detrimental to agriculture. In some parts of the Prairie Provinces, where 
large numbers of some species — mostly Mallards — concentrate in the early 
autumn, the cost of their support in some cases falls heavily upon the fields 
they frequent. Geese are occasionally as bad, cropping the newly sprout- 
ing grain to such an extent as to make replanting necessary and cause the 
loss of valuable growing time. Complaints of this kind are naturally 
often selfishly exaggerated, but there is enough truth in them to warrant 
serious consideration. When the Duck season opens the remedy is obvious, 
but if closed there is occasionally a race between the harvesters and the 
Ducks as to who will get the most grain from certain fields. It is not 
always the grain actually consumed that is in question, but the fact that the 
trampled condition of the straw may prevent proper harvesting. It is said 
that in spring when the grain is well rooted Geese bite off only the tender 
tops without disturbing the roots, and thus encourage a stronger growth of 
the plants, which is an advantage rather than a detriment. When the ground 
is soaked and soft the roots may come up with the tops and cause real loss 
to the farmers. Though the Migratory Birds Convention Act provides for 
just such cases, it requires the nicest discrimination to recognize legitimate 
complaints and to furnish necessary relief in time to be effective. This 
is one of the problems of game protection that can be solved satisfactorily 
only with the honest and sincere co-operation of all concerned. Local 
sentiment among neighbours who personally know specific conditions can 
do more to permit quick action in such matters than any amount of official 
investigation that would otherwise be necessary. 
A peculiar condition affecting Ducks occurs on the northern Pacific 
coast. The immense number of salmon that frequent the western streams 
differ in habit from the eastern fish in that they spawn but once in their 
lives. After working upstream they spawn and die, and are washed 
ashore in windrows to pollute the atmosphere or sink to the bottom where, 
in slack-water pools, they lie in decaying masses. Many of our otherwise 
most palatable and elsewhere eagerly prized Ducks feed upon this disgusting 
offal — and on salmon eggs — to such an extent as to become unfit for human 
consumption and even offensive to handle. Local conditions and the food 
they have been subsisting upon are important factors in deciding the 
palatability of different Ducks. In the east a wild Duck is a wild Duck and 
even Mergansers and coarse, heavy Scoters are sought for eagerly in some 
localities. Undoubtedly a shortage of numbers limits the choice and renders 
the consumer less critical. Wild-celery fed Canvas-back is the synonym 
for high-living in the east, whereas on the prairies grain-fed Mallard takes 
first place in the estimation of epicures, and such birds as Whistlers (Gold- 
en-eyes) and Bluebills (Scaup Ducks) are often looked upon as next to 
worthless. In the interior of British Columbia, other standards of excel- 
lence exist, and on the coast the edibility of wild fowl is strictly limited 
both by species and season because of the fish-eating habits just 
described. 
