DOMESTICATION OF WILD BIRDS 275 



fully reared on the preserve of the Woodmount 

 Rod and Gun Club in Maryland. One season two 

 hundred young turkeys were reared. 



Canada goose. The Canada goose is easily reared 

 in captivity, and is readily tamed, even more readily 

 than ducks. Mr. J. W. Wheaton, on Chincoteague 

 Island, Virginia, has raised Canada geese for more 

 than fifty years. In 1909 he had about four hundred 

 and fifty birds. About seventy-five pairs breed and 

 he raises annually from two hundred to three hun- 

 dred young birds. Some of these pairs are over fifty 

 years of age and have come back spring after spring 

 to nest for nearly half a century. 



Ducks. Wild ducks are now being raised in large 

 numbers. On the Walcott game preserve at Norfolk, 

 Connecticut, from fifteen hundred to two thou- 

 sand mallards are raised each season for the mar- 

 ket. The Game Breeders' Association, of Sparrow- 

 bush, New York, during the season of 1913 gathered 

 four thousand eggs from one hundred and seventy 

 mallard ducks and hatched twenty-five hundred 

 ducklings. The Clove Valley Rod and Gun Club, 

 of Dutchess County, New York, during 1913 reared 

 and marketed about four thousand mallards. Dur- 

 ing the season of 1914 Mr. Wallace Evans raised 

 more than six thousand young wood ducks. 



Wild ducks are easily reared. The outfit is simple 

 and inexpensive, consisting of a pond or brook, an 

 open shed, and a wire fence. The food is easily pro- 



