1 84 WILD- FOWL AND SEA- FOWL OF GREAT BRITAIN 



lover. The way in which half-bred ones are got 

 is this : some tame ducks of the original colour are 

 turned down with some pinioned wild drakes, the 

 domesticated drakes being cooped up or sent else- 

 where, with the result that in the course of time 

 a lot of Wild Ducks very soon gather together, and 

 keep to the district in which they were hatched 

 out. The tame blood inherited from their mothers 

 is just enough to keep them about the water or 

 waters near which the nests were. I very often 

 visit a lot of half-bred birds which are wild to all 

 intents and purposes, at any rate so far as sport is 

 concerned, and also in their plumage ; but they 

 come to be fed at a certain place twice daily. 

 Sometimes these birds wander and nest out ; if the 

 eggs are found they are placed under tame birds 

 to hatch. There is as much difference between 

 these nimble little beauties and the farm-yard birds, 

 as regards size, as there is between a fine tame 

 drake and small gander. 



There is a difference in weight in our own home- 

 bred wild birds, that is, between Wild Ducks bred 

 in the United Kingdom and the foreign flighters : 

 and when alarmed the latter are quick to spring 

 from the water ; they are up and away. Flight- 

 shooting morning and evening accounts for the 

 death of a great many. And sometimes fowlers on 

 the tide kill numbers, for the flighters seem to think 

 that, for them at any rate, the open water is safest 

 to rest on ; they come off it to feed at night, and 

 return in the early morning. 



