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December 5, 1918.

MEMORANDUM FOR THE CHIEF.

Dear Mr. Nelson:

Investigations just completed in Arkansas show that owing to unfavorable weather about two thirds of the rice crop in that state is still unharvested. The flight of wild ducks from the north came in about November 20 and these birds (practically all Mallards) have begun to work to some extent in rice fields where the grain is still in the shock. The rice is being harvested as rapidly as weather will permit, but unless steps are taken to prevent, serious damage from wild ducks may result at any time. Fields were examined in which ducks had been working at night about the shocks of rice.

To meet this situation, it is recommended that blanket permission be granted under the Federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act to rice growers in Arkansas County, Arkansas, to kill wild ducks at night in fields containing standing or shocked rice until and including December 31, 1918.

Very truly yours,

Alex. Wetmore.

AW/MFP