The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-10-05

the bagging of a few birds Should prove
INCENTIVE enough to take the busy man
from his work to the health-giying eX-
ercise to be found in a duck boat.
There are miles of picturesque water
ways on the preserves of the eight or
ten clubs which control the shooting
about Lake Erie where the tall rushes
and wild rice gracefully wave in the
breeze and lilies cover the surface of
the water. With friend who had no
weapon but a camera, and with nothing
more formidable than sketch-pad and
paint brush I thoroughly enjoyed a week
at the Ottawa and NVinous Point Clubs.
l am satisfied that the excessive killing
of birds in the South had had more to
do with the depletion of the race than
the shooting on the Northern club
grounds A thousand teal taken on the
marshes at Winoils Point would not ac-
count for The disappearance of the Srea t
focks which formerly came each year.
The destruction fthe food by the carp
has been suggested as one OF the causes
doubt true. The superintendent at
Winous Point said to me that the carp
were q positive nuisance. They were de-
Eslroying the wild-rice and rushes through
out the marsh SO thoroughly that the
ducks now found little to eat where
food was formerly abundant. Some
fishermen recently caught eight tons of
car in one haul of a net and catch of
six tons was not unusual. The fish, he
said We're offered for sale in Port Clinton
but the market being oversrocked they
were taken on tug to Sandusky and
there being no sale for them as food,
they We're finally disposed of to a fer
tilzing establishment at s. per ton. The
teal is one of the fastest flyers. Audubon
estimated its speed to that Of the wild
passenger pigeon. | recently saw the
statement. made somewhere a teal going
to breakfast The birds often however,
fly in fiocks and are not always on their
way to breakfast. once shot six from
horseback with two barrels. from a pass
ing flock and on one occasion, riding
about on an indian pony in the shallow
water and wild rice of Western lake
I Jumped" the teal and found them
quite easy to shoot from the saddle. [
had already killed several dozen birds
and an orderly had removed his shoes
and stockings and was wading about in
the marsh retrieving them, when he dis
covered some mounted men on a distant
hill and taking them very properly for
Indians, we beat hasty retreat for our
camp. I shall never forget the appear
ance of the orderly with a large bunch Of
teal in one hand and his shoes and stock
ing in the other as We raced along
over the prairie The wood-duck builds
its nest in a hole in a tree and carries
its young to the water Audubon OBJ
served this performance. These birds .
become quite tame on the lakes at Zoo
logical Gardens and always are much adj
rired The teal have also bbeen bred to
some extent a in confinement and their
size think is one of the chief reasons
why they are not common tame duck.
The late Major Fred Mather owned
quite a flock of wild ducks and teal, both
the blue-wing and the harder late COM
er. the green-wing teal. Few, he says.
SIN Field and Stream know how beau
tiful a Icing wood duck or teal il and how
one gets to love them and enjoy having
them about. What if a green-wing teal,
the smallest Of the ducks, IS no larger
than q $nieeon the question is not one of
meat as it was with primitive man
when he fomesticated the Mallard If
there is a wild duck that inherits less
fear Of man than these teal, Il don't know
it: Of the two perhaps the slightly larger
blue-wing is quicker to make friends with
man. Mr.. N,ather doubted If the wood
duck could be domesticated. since after
being bred for ten generations in con-
finement they would escape If possible
..The minks and other vermin reSserions
obstacles "a success and Mr. Ma Their (