It was not uncommon to see ducks with green around the belly and vent that we were told later was an indicator of lead poisoning.... Sad, but if I erred it was on the side of wildlife, so that takes some of the sting out of it for me.
I first learned about lead poisoning from a game warden on Sauvie Island, outside of Portland, OR, in 1969. Part of his job in winter was picking up 'greenasses', dead and dying ducks with green diarrhea running out their vents, the result of ingested lead destroying their ability to digest food; they starve to death. This was first described before 1900, so has been known for a long time. The slight additional cost of bismuth in my old fowlers is a small fraction of the cost of duck hunting, and its greater lethality makes cripple chasing uncommon.
