Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-08-10

than thirty in number, and then rows
away. His business is to keep the ducks
moving and to return occasionally to pick
up any dead birds or to give chase TO the
wounded. 1 said the decoys should num-
Der thirty. These, if properly distributed
| make big flock, and big flock is
larger punches of ducks. Small focks,
eight or a Dozen. will decoy to either
small or large bunch of decoys, but when
flock of say two or three hundred rudy
ducks wings its way up the river, nothing
but a large flock of the wooden dummies
will make them swerve from their course.
or the Merganser. one only, the hooded,
need claim any particular attention, as both
the American and red-breasted are rather
rare here ard not particularly handsome.
The hooded, however, is one of the hand
soonest of american waterfowl and quite
common They decoy well and drop in
singly or some times in focks of ten or a
dozen. AS previously stated. they are I'M
mt for food, but If a male bird be shot, the
stuffed and mounted skin is a trophy we'll
worthy of position on the center table.
They are not here i'll abundance until about
Christmas time, but are frequently taken
as early as the middle of October or first
or November. Feeding as they do on fish,
they are necessarily expert divers, ard a
wounded Merganser is one of the most
difficult of all ducks to secure. ard will
even hold on to grass growing from the
bottom until he dies rather than submit to
capture. -. II
The common mallard and black ducks
may he spoken of together. They are very
abundant, both in spring and fall decov
well, both singly and in f1ocks, and are
among the finer of our table birds Both
are essentially swamp birds. and are often
shot IN the ponds and inletS. A favorite
resort for the mallards is the large
swampy tract just below New Alexandra,
called the Dyke and here also at the
point is one of the best places for early
morning shootiEgi -Four-Mile run is also a
faVorite feeding ground-in the pond back
OF the railroad, and even up the stream for
some little distance. During the mallard
season this latter Cplaceiis probably the fin
est ducking ground around Washington
AS night rooSt II Offers great attractions
and large numbers have been killed by
aunners stationed on the bridge as the
birds flew in from the river at twilight.
At such times they generally fly low and
Wlthn easy range, and as this kind of
shooting don't begin Until shutdown, the
man OF business car get an early dinner
and enjoy an hours shooting without any
damage to his interests There is another
place this side of the run, where a little
spring starts from the hillside, and flowing
through the fields finally empties into the
river in the form of little lagoon, perhaps
ten Y: rds across. To the casual eye it is
nothing mere or less than it appears, but
close inspection by one verSed in bird life
tells different story. Scattered feathers,
bird droppings on the stones and floating
wood, and the grass and wild celery pulled
up by the ROOTS signify a duck roost Go
there any evening about 5 o'clock, screen
yourself well behind the trees, and even
at the time, couple of brace of mallards
may reward you for two hours patient
waiting.
AS for the pintail and shoveler they are
less common than the rest, and rank next
to the canvasback and redhead in abund-
ance. 1 don't mean to say they are I'M
common. but as compared with the others
found here they are sparse in numbers. To