SHOOTING SEASON.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 129, 1 May 1940, Page 6

SHOOTING SEASON.

PROSPECTS APPEAR BRIGHT. Prospects for the opening of the slioouug season, on Saturday appear to lie brigiit lor ■sportsmen in the Manawatu and surrounding areas. It is reported that there are/as many ducks about as lias been the case lor the best seasons over a considerable period. There are large congregations of ducks on the bigger lakes about Foxtoii and Himatangi. There are more swans on the larger lakes than has been the case for some years. A pair of white swans are known to be in the Himatangi-Foxton area, however, and these are absolutely protected. , In the Karere-Tiakitaliima districts there is a fair sprinkling of pheasants, particularly along the banks of' the Manawatu River, where is a growth providing them with cover. Mallard ducks, the imported European variety, are stated to he increasing, in numbers every year and in this district, at least, this increase is not at the expense of the native grey duck. Their habits are stated to be different, the native duck congregating on ,the coastal lakes and the mallard seeking the rivers in preference. In their breeding the two varieties usually keep apart, and even where both are found on a lake more often than not they for themselves into two colonies. The ancestor of the tame duck, the mallard nests in the vicinity of water, about lagoons and near streams, but the grey duck seeks seclusion and goes to deep gorges and inaccessible bluffs, not being afraid of large trees, for nesting. Reports from the Waikato state that ducks are numerous on all the Waikato lakes and the Waikato River flats, while pheasant and quail shooting should also be satisfactory. The shooting at Rotorua for ground birds is expected to be the best for 20 years.