

YOUNG REDHEAD DUCKS IN MANITOBA 



In order to learn, under the most favorable conditions, how to rear wild 

 ducks in captivity, Mr. Job made two expeditions to Northern 

 Canada. This photograph shows some of the young redheads, 

 hatched in incubator from eggs found in nests in the woods, and 

 then brought to maturity in brooder. Among the American wild 

 ducks, he has found the redhead one of the easiest to raise, owing 

 to its hardiness and docility. From Job, "Propagation of Wild 

 Birds." (Fig. 11.) 



deserves to be increased. Mr. Job 

 declares that man}- of the birds now 

 killed in the woods are hybrids with the 

 domestic turkey, and that much of the 

 breeding stock sold under the name of 

 wild turkey is really of mongrel origin. 

 The diflferences between the two forms 

 are, of course, slight. The birds are 

 easily domesticated, and when not 

 crowded they apjx'ar to be little more 

 difficult to rear than is the ordinary 

 barn->'ard turkey. 



But the pheasant family, in Mr. Job's 

 opinion, is preeminently the sj)ecies 

 for would-be ])ropagators to begin with. 

 It is more easil\^ raised than any other 

 game bird of the gallinaceous groujD, it 

 is wonderfully hardy, and it has much 

 commercial value. "At j^resent indi- 

 cations it seems likely to become one 

 of the principal game birds of America." 



Methods are much the same as for 

 quail. The birds will stand a good 

 deal of crowding, though not so much 

 as poultry. The large and brilliant 

 birds are an attraction to any estate; 

 508 



furthermore they arc distinctly profit- 

 able. 



" It is a pleasant way for young people 

 to make a little money on the side by 

 raising a few game birds or waterfowl. 

 With hardly any expense, on the aver- 

 age farm, a boy could have a few broods 

 of pheasants roaming around and grow- 

 ing up. What little work there is will 

 seem more like sport, and the watchful- 

 ness required is good training. After 

 buying the original breeding stock, the 

 expense is very light. Little apparatus 

 is required, and the lairds are .small 

 eaters. Ring-neck stock will jjrobably 

 cost $5 to S6 ])er ])air in the late fall. 

 A cock and four hens, sav, might cost 

 from SIO to vSl.S. These should lay 

 at the very least 120 eggs, which are 

 worth usually 25 cents each, or more 

 than doulile the cost of the original 

 stock. If even a moderate number of 

 young are reared and sold, the under- 

 taking wotild considerably more than 

 pay. 



