July 20, 1912 
FOREST AND STREAM 
79 
A Foxy Trick 
By A. D. DART 
Flagging Ducks Within Gunshot on Great South Bay by Gently Waving 
a Small Red Flag or Boot 
A QUEER custom practiced by Sir Reynard 
on Long Island, N. Y., was to lay on his 
back a few feet from the water, and by 
gently waving his brush to and fro, lure a flock 
of ducks within reaching, or springing distance. 
easy matter to secure at least one out of the lot. 
The accompanying unique photograph shows 
the hunter lying on his back, while two flocks 
of ducks are slowly swimming in, the nearest 
flock at the time the picture was taken being 
HUNTER "FLAGGING DUCKS. 
Although the ducks might be a mile or so away, 
their curiosity would lead them to investigate the 
singular and apparently harmless object. 
Old hunters have told the writer that they 
have seen hundreds of ducks lured to the water’s 
edge by this trick, some even venturing on shore 
so close to Mr. or Mrs. Fox that it became an 
Scarcity of Swallows in England. 
Budleigh, Salterton, Eng., June 4.— Editor 
Forest and Stream: During the present season 
there has been a remarkable scarcity of birds of 
the swallow tribe in the British Islands, although 
other summer migrants appear to be as numer¬ 
ous as ever, and cuckoos (at least, in this part of 
England) are unusually plentiful. 
For many years I have kept notes of the 
dates on which the swallows have arrived and 
departed. Generally they have appeared between 
the 15th and 20th of April, but this season I did 
not see the first pair until the 20th of May, and 
they are still exceedingly scarce either about the 
town or in the surrounding country. 
I have lived here twenty years and swallows 
have always bred in the chimneys of my house, 
in the loft of the stable, and in an outhouse at 
the end of the garden, while v martins have built 
under the eaves. This year there is not one pair 
of either species in any part of the grounds. 
There was a colony of sand martins in an 
old gravel pit about 200 yards distant. It is now 
entirely deserted. Within the last seven years 
there has been a gradual but marked diminution 
in the numbers of swallows of all species, com¬ 
pared with what there were twenty years ago. 
This was attributed to the French and Italians 
not more than 100 feet away. The boot on this 
occasion was wrapped with a piece of red flan¬ 
nel. As the leg is being waved for the last time 
the kodak clicks, followed almost immediately 
by the discharge of the double barreled gun. 
Thanks to Sir Reynard, five broadbills are 
bagged. 
on the north shores of the Mediterranean, catch¬ 
ing them with nets when they arrived after the 
flight from Africa. I think it is not exaggerat¬ 
ing to say that they are one hundred times less 
numerous this season than they were last year. 
A theory was lately published in a news¬ 
paper that owing to the multitudes of Europeans 
who have settled in the north of Africa within 
the last few years, the swallows now remain 
there and breed about their houses instead of 
crossing the Mediterranean. 
Consideriag that nearly all migratory birds 
have a fixed habit of returning annually to the 
places in which they were hatched, it is very im¬ 
probable that the great mass of swallows and 
martins would, in one year, change a custom 
established for many past ages. 
It is greatly to be feared that the reduction 
in their numbers has been caused, in their coun¬ 
tries where they spent the winter, by a widely 
spread epizootic disease. If so, the countries of 
Europe may suffer severely for some years from 
insect plagues. I have noticed a considerable in¬ 
crease of blight on fruit trees coincident with 
the lessened quantities of swallows during the 
last few years. 
It would be interesting to know if there 
has been a similar diminution in the swallows of 
America. Those individuals which extend their 
migrations to the arctic regions, are while there 
the near neighbors of their cousins from Europe 
which breed in the same latitudes, and an in¬ 
fectious disease in one variety might possibly 
extend to the other. J. J, Meyrick. 
An Albino Sparrow. 
Exeter, N. H., June 25 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: lhroughout the winter and spring I 
have noticed frequently on a certain side street 
of the town an English sparrow that conforms 
pretty nearly to what must be albinism. I have 
observed the creature with great care, and the 
matter has been mentioned in the local paper, 
d he tail and the chief feathers on the wings are 
the dirty brown always seen on the typical Eng¬ 
lish sparrow, but the breast, the back and the 
belly are a creamy white. I cannot be sure that 
the eyes are any different from the usual spar¬ 
row, but the rest of the specimen is surely un¬ 
usual. 1 he bird is always in the company of 
other sparrows, and acts no differently from its 
fellows. Can you give me any information on 
this? 
d hough I have not been in the woods since 
the shooting season closed to any extent, report 
says that there are many young grouse and that 
they are thriving. The cold rains of the spring 
did not promise well, but there seem to be a 
good many young broods that have hatched out 
and that are now past the worst time of danger. 
A good number of woodcock have been reported 
as. nesting in the vicinity. The birds that are 
raised here are invariably gone before the shoot¬ 
ing season opens in October, but I consider that 
a great blessing, since the early shooting which 
some of the older men tell about well nigh set¬ 
tled the woodcock question for all time. Several 
litters of young foxes are being raised within a 
couple of miles of town, and promise the usual 
fine sport that the fox hunter loves. 
Under the two weeks of open season on 
deer we are surely and rapidly losing those beau¬ 
tiful creatures from the woods and fields. The 
actual damage done by them to farmers’ crops 
was always inconsiderable, and nothing in com¬ 
parison with the advantage of having our coun¬ 
tryside blessed by their sprightly presence. In 
a few years the “timid citizens” will have per¬ 
manently withdrawn to the safer retreats of the 
forests further north. Laurence M. Crosbie. 
[White-breasted sparrows are not infre¬ 
quently found in sparrow bevies, although white 
on the back is most unusual. It is not likely that 
the eyes are pink, the feather coloring being due 
to accident of birth.— Editor.] 
A New Jersey Martin House. 
Prince’s Bay, S. I., May 18 .—Editor Forest 
and Stream: Easter Sunday I spent at Lake- 
wood, and there I saw a sight I had not seen 
before since I was a very small boy—it was a 
colony of purple martins. A man had taken a 
common sugar barrel and made it into a suit¬ 
able house and put it on top of a pole about 
thirty feet high. The martins were first seen 
Easter morning, and they were busy cleaning 
out the English sparrows that had had free 
rent all winter. There must have been fifty 
pair of martins there before evening. 
If I thought I could get them around my 
place, I would do the same thing, but I have 
never seen a martin on Staten Island. 
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