33 2 
[Feb. 29, 1908. 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
What Became of a Wounded Duck. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
From time to time I have seen articles in your 
paper regarding the mysterious disappearance 
of wounded ducks. A great majority of writers 
and observers are of the opinion that they es¬ 
cape capture by diving and clinging to weeds 
and other bottom growth. I wish, therefore, to 
tell of a case that recently came under my ob¬ 
servation that may possibly throw more light 
on this little understood subject. 
On a stormy day last December, while hunt¬ 
ing black ducks with a friend on a certain marsh 
in the lower Connecticut valley, we had the 
good luck to kill nine during the morning. 
Shortly before noon, the rain ceased, the ducks 
stopped flying, and after an hour’s wait without 
seeing a bird, we decided that home was the 
proper place for us, and had about prepared to 
launch the boat and take in the decoys, when 
we espied a pair of ducks away off to the east¬ 
ward. 
Fortunately they were headed our way and see¬ 
ing our decoys, came within good range, when 
we downed them both, a male and a female. We 
at once saw that but one had been killed out¬ 
right, and as the other, the duck, began to swim 
out of range, we immediately launched the boat 
and started in pursuit. As we came within 
shooting distance and my companion raised his 
gun to fire, the duck dived. Supposing, of 
course, that she would be up immediately, we 
stopped the boat and watched for her, intently 
scanning the water thereabouts. After a few 
minutes’ waiting, I discerned an object on the 
water perhaps twenty or twenty-five rods from 
where we were, that, by closely scrutinizing, I 
saw had motion. Ihe object was so small that 
it was with difficulty that I pointed it out to my 
friend, who, when he saw it, thought it was a 
muskrat. However, as we had both seen 
wounded ducks and had noticed the way they 
have of flattening themselves on the water, and, 
as a longer observance impressed us that it 
might perhaps be our duck, we paddled over 
in its direction.. 
Again, after getting nearly within range, the 
duck—for it was our bird—dived, and again we 
waited and watthed for her appearance. A much 
longer observance failed to disclose her this 
time, so we started for the opposite shore, look¬ 
ing over every little clump of weeds and water 
growth, and, finally, seeing nothing that looked 
duck-like, paddled back a second time to the 
place where she had disappeared. There in a 
little clump of rushes we espied her, and, as 
we were within two or three rods at the time, 
my companion fired, supposing, of course, that 
now at last she was in our clutches. Not so, 
however. As he shot, the wily old duck went 
under again, and a close and long observance 
failed afterward to disclose her. 
About this time we saw a boat drawing near, 
which, as it appeared, we saw contained an old 
friend who asked what we were looking for. 
After stating the facts to him and telling him 
that we were somewhat of the opinion that the 
bird had gone ashore, he laughed at our sug¬ 
gestion, saying that it was impossible for a duck 
to swim so far under water, which we began 
to think was about true, for the distance was 
all of forty rods. As he was going over that 
wa % though, and as he had a dog that was a 
good duck finder, we paddled along with him. 
Getting to the meadow, he put his dog ashore 
and almost immediately the duck was found. 
Our duck it surely was, the blood still fresh 
upon her wing, the tip of which was broken. 
After thinking over this affair a great many 
times since its occurrence, I have wondered if 
a great many wounded ducks do not escape in 
just this way. It certainly seems that if a black 
duck—a bird classed among the non-divers— 
could swim under water in this way, a bird of 
the diving class, say a broadbill, redhead, or 
canvasback, could even more easily thus evade 
capture. While, no doubt, a great many ducks 
that have been wounded do cling to the bottom 
in a death grip, I am impressed that the great 
majority by skulking and diving finally reach 
shore, even though closely watched. 
Surely we seldom find dead ducks floating on 
the water, to the surface of which they would 
naturally rise within a few days at most after 
death, while with a dog it is no uncommon 
occurrence to find them on the meadows. And 
this, too, in places where ducks are killed by 
decoying when nine out of ten drop in the water. 
Certainly the wounded birds get ashore some¬ 
how, as I can testify. Last fall it was seldom 
indeed that I scoured the meadows near the 
ducking grounds with my dog that he did not 
find one or more ducks. 
Another thing I want to mention that corre¬ 
sponds with a statement made by a French con¬ 
tributor is that ducks of the non-diving class 
escape by diving more frequently than do the 
drakes, and I have also been told the same 
thing by old duck hunters who have had vast 
experience. 
The duck shooting last season was good, quite 
up to the average, and with the new law in 
effect, which abolishes spring shooting, we are 
looking for a grand good time next fall. Cer¬ 
tainly there were a good many left over for 
“seed.” On the morning mentioned above, a 
flock of black ducks containing between a hun¬ 
dred and fifty and two hundred went out toward 
the Sound at daybreak. 
George W. Comstock. 
WHERE QUALITY IS FIRST. 
Campers and sportsmen who demand the best 
should note that the equipment of every scientific 
and exploring expedition for the past fifty years 
has included a supply of Borden’s Eagle Brand 
Condensed Milk. Keeps in any climate and 
under all conditions. The original and leading 
brand since 1857.— Adv. 
A Woodduck’s House. 
It is well understood that the woodduck breeds 
over most of the forest covered eastern United 
States, and that the nest is built in trees, in hol¬ 
low branches or upright trunks which have be¬ 
come hollowed out. 
As the forests grow smaller in extent such 
natural nesting places become fewer in number, 
and the birds evidently cannot breed unless they 
find suitable places in which to deposit their 
eggs. Thus they cease to breed in a given 
locality. 
Dr. A. K. Fisher, of the Biological Survey, 
has suggested that if suitable nesting sites were 
offered the woodduck would be likely to breed 
in many places where it does not now do so, 
and he has furnished to Mr. George Batten, 
president of the New Jersey Sportsman’s Asso¬ 
ciation for the Protection of Fish and Game, a 
drawing and suggestions for woodduck nesting 
places which we are permitted to print. 
The nesting places may be put in trees, not 
too far from water, and at a height of from 
thirty to sixty feet. They should be built of 
weathered material, or covered with bark; the 
hole for entrance should be nearer the top than 
the bottom of the box, and the space in the box 
should be not less than one cubic foot. It might 
be well to cover the bottom of the box with an 
inch of sawdust, or rotten mould, or even chaff 
or hayseed. 
The cost of a half dozen such shelters would 
be very trifling, and as the only special trouble 
connected with them would be the putting them 
in place in trees in the wood lot, it would seem 
well worth while for sportsmen who have large 
country places to make the experiment: 
An Untrained Observer. 
At a meeting of the legislative committee, held 
in Boston some time ago, Mr. Brewster made 
some remarks on the question of damage done 
by deer to the farmers’ crops which were very 
interesting. Among other things he cited the 
following episode: 
“I saw,” said he, “an interesting case of how 
mistaken a man may be who is not accustomed 
to sifting evidence wisely. One of my neigh¬ 
bors in Concord told me that a deer had de¬ 
stroyed a whole field of squashes. 
“‘How do you know it was deer?’ I asked. 
“ ‘Because I saw the tracks,’ was the answer. 
“‘When was it done?’ 
“‘Last night; the tracks are perfectly fresh.’ 
“He took me down to the field where there 
was a strip about as wide as your arm along the 
whole length of the field. Sure enough there 
were the single row of deer tracks where the 
animal had walked the whole length of the 
planted patch. I said, ‘Do you think that the 
deer ate off these leaves?’ and I showed him 
some croppings to reach which, from the foot¬ 
prints, the deer must have had a neck fifteen 
feet long. The man did not seem persuaded, 
however, and then I looked about and found 
woodchuck tracks all about the vines—found 
the tracks everywhere. They, without doubt, 
and not the deer t had eaten his squashes, but 
he would not admit it.” 
All the game laws of the United States and 
Canada, revised to date and now in force, are 
given in the Game Laws in Brief. See adv. 
