The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-09-13


shooting Needed to Bring Them Down
shots al Them From Blinds-Hunt.
Ing the Rufrcd Grouse--PIoyer Hard
10 shoot When the Gunner IL AfoOt.
hut Eas, when He Is In WaEon-kill.
,ns Flies for Black Bass In the Autumn.
FRS, of the north-bred swarms OF wild
fowl the teal have swept down from the
Canadian line and now are squattering and
soiawking in reeds and sedges of ponds
as far south as the upper line of the middle
West They are all bluewings, swift,
fat, delicious. Their cousins, the green
winged teal, which are much harder birds.
will follow them later.
They are always weeks ahead of other
ducks in beginning the annual migration
to the SOUTH and they go much further
from ten days to two weeks ahead OF the
creenwings and at least a month'ahead of
tie malards and bluebills.
In beginning this migration they do not
travel in focks. each containing single
family. as is the habit OF some other kinds.
Ten or fifteen or possibly twenty broods
unite. making sometimes a band OF l5O
individuals. This great bunch may stay
together for day or so and then it Is sep
arated in the search for food.
Nor in their flight do the teal assume the
v-ke formation of other ducks. The
mass rushes along without regard to special
formation of any kind. Often the birds
fv in several tiers. Seeing something below
to brighten them, they bunch hurriedly
with mighty rustic Of wing until it is
difficult to see the sky through the flock,
though. marvellousy, they avoid inter-
ference. This is done when the flock is
lea wing quite 100 hundred miles an hour
behind it and is one OF the rnarvels of
aeronautics.
Two barrels loaded with small shot emp
tied into this sort Of flock when the birds
are not more than forty yards high work
slaughter Fifty and sixty individuals
have been slain by discharges Of this char
acter, not counting the cripples that per-
i-hed subsequently. The number hit hard
and vet not hard enough to bring them
down. may be Judged from the fact that as
long as the flock is in sight birds singly
and in pairs keep failing out from the flee
ing mass and drifting down to the land or
water, many Of them dead before they reach
The teal is a low-fying bird Other
ducks, notably mallards and canvasbacks,
get mp next to the sky of clear days, whence
they have visual command Of great ex-
tent of territory, but the teal is never away
ny.
\ There are now in this country four great
ARMIES of wild fowl which have sent out
Sthe bluewings as scouts. These forces will
sinove southwark within the next six weeks
Yin four parallel, though widely separated,
routes.
One army will 60 down the edge Of the
Atlantic: another will pass with its eastern
wing over the great lakes and its western
over the Mississippi A third goes South
above the lands east of the Rocky Noun
'aius; the fourth goes west Of the Rockies,
and is muda up wholly of birds bred in
Alaska. British Columbia and contiguous
territories.
These armies are not constant in their
routes. They shift many miles east or
we-t year in and out. and as they shift
shooting s good or bad in the regions over
which they pass Ahead always by hun
drodS Of miles are the bluewings.
II is n popularity Of the teal that although
tons Of thousa nds Of them pass south
ward year after year, no man ever saw
,h"m in regular migration, He sees a
aork. or many focks. passing during n
W'eR. but the chances are that they will
pitch not more than mile away and then
20 10 feeding The teal Is faculty OF showing
M suddenly and then disappearing is ex-
pan,ble only by it's enormous speed, II
goes SO fast when it does go that little time
is required TO take it far south Of the OBJ
server.
the bluewing is exceedingly tender of
the cold and will hurry away after a boar
FROST not thinking of staying until there is
n film Of ice next to the banks of still pools.
There are buewings now within easy dis
taHcc Of New York city; some Of them
arc even much further down. The man
who knows whore TO look for them may
make "A decent score, though it is not likely
that he shooting will be heavy anywhere
lw the next ten days,
These teal like still water and prefer ii
shallow. They are more apt to be upon
very small lakes or ponds than upon larger
lakes or rivers that have n strong current.
4 marsh which is soft but yet may be
traversed is another place in which to find
I ha blUeings AT this time Such marsh will
have little pools of a yard in diameter ana
not more than six inches deep scattered
here and there and the teal love these pools
Generally the pools have all grass or weeds
beniing over them and make good hiding
places and on one Of them the little duck
may fill its craw with seeds without moving
more than foot and then take it's nap
where it has had dinner
There will never be more than two teal
in small pool Of this descriptions; generally
there will be but one, though hers of The
flock will he near. The man who can drop
one or both Of them at thirty yards rise
may hold himself entitled to sit with the
elders of the shotgun tribe For the teal,
unlike he mallard, the canvas back and I he
redhead, does not waste any time in getting
Of the water.
II bounds from the water as the quail
bounds from land II does not go as high
in It's first leap nor so fast ms ide Of the first
on yards. but when It has gone ten yards
unchecked il is going faster than any quail
hat ever flew, is higher in the air and il
apt to have much more curve to its swing
There are few harder forms Of open shoot
ing than teal shooting over marsh In Sep
IN singles and pairs and taking his chances
"n their rising near or far
If slow narrow creek wanders through !
a bit Of woodland the teal will be there,
not AZ individuals, but in the flock When |
List irha InU mill al, al,