Vhy Not Breed Our Own Wild Ducks. 
[One of the obvious advantages of the aboli- 
ion of the spring shooting of any sort of wild 
irds is that a species undisturbed in late winter 
nd early spring is likely to breed more suc¬ 
cessfully than if constantly pursued and harried. 
Ve should regard as a lunatic a poultryman 
iho at the precise time when he was expecting 
lis hens to begin to lay should go into the 
loultry yard and chase his fowls about, accom- 
>anying the pursuit with occasional discharges 
>f firearms. It is an elementary proposition that 
>reeding birds or animals should be disturbed 
is little as possible. 
, At the time when spring shooting was legal 
!md generally practiced all over Long Island, 
• he black duck, in a wild state, bred in very 
email numbers, but perhaps regularly at Mon- 
auk Point, where Capt. James V. Scott, the 
<eeper of Montauk Point light, has found the 
aests of the birds nearly every season for the 
past few years. He believes, as we are told by 
Dr. Wm. C. Braislin—compiler of the interest¬ 
ing "List of the Birds of Long Island,” recently 
noticed in Forest and Stream— that the birds 
have nested there every season. Dr. Braislin 
believes that if Capt. Scott made any special 
effort , to find nests of the black ducks he could 
locate several each year at the point. 
Dr. Braislin further says: ‘‘In August, 1907, 
we saw at Montauk quite a number during the 
■ stay covering the days of the 13th to 17th inclu¬ 
sive. On the 15th, at Reedy Pond, a pair gave 
sufficient evidence of their fearlessness or curi¬ 
osity to return after flying off a mile or more 
and crossing repeatedly over our heads. We 
took them to be young birds which had not yet 
learned worldly wisdom, but it is just possible 
they were parents of a belated brood. 
‘‘During the past few years I have seen black 
ducks in summer at Far Rockaway, at Keyport, 
at Moriches. I cannot present any evidence to 
prove that the black duck is more common in 
summer since the passage of the law prohibiting 
spring shooting, but my impression is that they 
are more common. I believe that with the pass¬ 
ing of a few years the baymen will themselves 
see the wisdom of this law.” 
Years ago when Jefferson county, New York, 
: enjoyed the distinguished honor of being the 
only county in the State that had forbidden 
spring shooting, it was observed, as we were 
told by Mr. W. H. Tallett, that large numbers 
of black ducks remained on the marshes in Jef¬ 
ferson county during the summer and bred 
there. As a result of this, according to the same 
authority, the early fall shooting became 
greatly improved. 
By far the best, fullest and most modern evi¬ 
dence that we have of any change in the habits 
of ducks in New York within the past three 
years, or since the abolition of spring shooting, 
is found in the extraordinarily interesting letter 
printed below. It will be recalled that Mr. Hen¬ 
drickson is the gentleman who discovered and 
brought to the notice of ornithologists the fact 
that coots, rails and gallinules breed commonly 
in the hurlyburly of the Long Island railroad 
yards at Long Island City within New York, 
and it is to be observed that he now reports the 
breeding of wild ducks within the city limits of 
New York. 
It is a fact well known to many observers that 
during the autumn, winter and spring black 
ducks and some other species commonly visit 
the ponds in Central Park, and the New York 
Zoological Park, both in New York city. These 
facts merely further establish the observations 
of many naturalists, often called attention to in 
these columns.— Editor.] 
Jamaica, Feb. 20 .—Editor Forest and Stream: 
During the past three falls while gunning Eng¬ 
lish snipe on the marshes in and about Queens 
county, I saw more blue-wing teal, black and 
wood ducks than at any other time in an experi¬ 
ence of over twenty years on these same 
marshes, which naturally leads me to believe 
these birds are increasing. 
I know that the black duck breeds along the 
Peconic River, and in the fresh-water swamps 
near Manor and Calverton, Long Island, for 
friends who live there have reported finding 
their nests and also seeing broods of young 
birds swimming about the river and certain 
ponds. Early last spring, and the spring before, 
I myself saw several pairs of black ducks flying 
about this section. I believe the black duck 
also breeds along the Carmen’s River, for late 
last summer I saw a brood of young black ducks 
feeding among the wild rice stalks on this river. 
Regarding the wood duck, I am in a position 
to give more information, as I have taken quite an 
interest in it the past four or five years, and 
have learned considerable about it. I know that 
this duck is far more plentiful on Long Island 
than the average gunner or naturalist believes, 
as I have no trouble in finding it in more or 
less numbers any time I care to look for it, and 
I think with ordinary protection the birds will 
steadily increase. The passage of the law pro¬ 
hibiting the spring shooting of ducks on Long 
Island is, in my humble opinion, the greatest 
step ever taken in this direction and, if properly 
enforced, will work wonders in the next few 
years. 
I regret to state that the law is still evaded 
and many fine wood drakes are killed in the 
mating season. There has always been a great 
demand for drakes in good feather, and I have 
heard men offer as high as $10 for a good 
specimen and. as long as there is such a de¬ 
mand. these birds will be killed out of season. 
Another great source of destruction, and on 
Long Island undoubtedly the most serious, is 
the “sooner gunner,” by which designation I 
mean the town bar-room loafer, the ne'er-do- 
well, who in his wanderings about the woods 
during the summer succeeds in locating a brood 
of wood ducks, and early some morning in the 
middle or late August sneaks in upon them and 
destroys the whole flock at one pot shot, for 
young wood ducks are a dainty morsel, and the 
gentleman above referred to can dispose of all 
such that he secures to very good advantage. 
Probably more are destroyed by this method 
than by all other agencies, for at this time of 
year the birds are young and unsuspecting, and 
hardly one escapes such a pot shot. 
If we had a gun license with the proper 
wardens to enforce it, such practices would have 
to cease and a very few years would show a 
noticeable increase in these birds. 
To illustrate the lack of protection; in May, 
1907, a pair of wood ducks built a nest in a 
hollow tree in a piece of swampy woodland near 
the Flushing meadows. When my informant 
first visited the nest it contained five eggs, but 
on returning in about a week he was shocked 
to find that the nest had been robbed, and close 
by evidence that the old birds had been shot. 
Who the guilty person was we had very good 
reason to suspect, but could get no legal evi¬ 
dence and had to let the matter drop. 
Early last spring (1907) I moved to Jamaica, 
and in my wanderings about the woods and 
fields in this vicinity I frequently saw wood 
ducks. On May 4 I flushed a pair of wood 
ducks from a small pond in the woods north of 
Queens. These were the earliest specimens I 
saw, but from this until late in September, when 
I ceased rambling about this section, I saw 
wood ducks every week, sometimes a single 
drake flying about, often a pair, and in the 
latter part of the summer and early fall small 
bunches. One pond in particular, which I will 
not particularly describe, seemed to be a 
favorite resort of theirs and until the latter part 
of September there I found them two or three 
mornings a week. sometimes a bunch of three, 
and more often seven. This pond is very pub¬ 
licly located with houses close by on the south 
and west, and a small piece of woods on the 
north. What brought these ducks there so often 
I cannot say, unless they came to feed on the 
roots of the pond lilies, of which the pond was 
full. 
In other sections of Queens county are to be 
found numerous ponds, tracts of marshy wood- 
land, and fresh-water brooks and streams; and 
in many of these the wood duck still breeds, 
and it is a common enough sight in the spring 
and early summer to see singles and pairs, and 
later on flocks of three to a dozen or more birds 
dashing from one piece of marshy woodland to 
the other. 
The following are a few of such places within 
easy reach of the heart of Manhattan: Near a 
village in the county of Queens, distant about 
three and a half miles from the 34th Street Ferry, 
in a section rapidly building up and with a 
trolley car running along one edge of it, lies a 
piece of swampy woodland some twenty or 
thirty acres in extent, and here the wood duck 
has made its home for many years and every 
season several broods are raised. At the present 
time there are but few large trees left in the swamp, 
but there is a very dense growth of bushes and 
the water is so deep in the summer that people 
never penetrate it, leaving it a safe refuge for 
