WILD DUCKS 137 



lowing American species of ducks : redhead, pintail, gadwall, 

 widgeon, shoveller, green-winged and blue-winged teals, 

 wood duck, black duck, mallard, besides the mandarin duck 

 and other foreign species. He had but one pair of canvas- 

 back and one of lesser scaup. The above did not merely 

 have one brood or an occasional one, but they all bred every 

 year, and did well. Of some kinds he reared as many as 

 fifty young in a season. It was not from choice selected 

 hand-reared birds that he bred, but from ordinary wild 

 stock, mostly pinioned, which he bought in the general 

 market from the regular dealers, doubtless wild trapped 

 birds. The eggs were usually nearly all fertile. A large 

 percentage hatched, and he raised most of them to maturity 

 by methods later described. 



Pond and Enclosure. The pond and enclosure comprise 

 about four or five acres. Here the ducks remain outdoors 

 all winter without shelter other than bushes on the shore. 

 The cHmate on Cape Cod in winter is raw and chilly, but the 

 mercury seldom reaches zero, and there is not much snow. 

 The pond was partly excavated, and small elevations were 

 left to form islands. These were planted with a common 

 yellow garden Hly which thrives in moist places and grows 

 very rank, making admirable cover to conceal nests. The 

 redheads were fond of nesting under it, just up from the 

 shore, where they could slip off into the water, as is charac- 

 teristic of the diving ducks, which walk awkwardly. The 

 field ducks, such as the pintail, shoveller, teal, and others, 

 nest well back in the grass. Most of them usually laid a 

 second set when the first one was taken fresh, though not all. 

 None of them was known to lay a third set, as domesticated 

 mallards will do. 



Young Valuable. The young he raised were in great de- 

 mand for breeding-stock. An advertisement in Country 



