144 PROPAGATION OF WILD BIRDS 



hunted out in the tangle, and they brought off their own 

 broods, which were mostly destroyed by turtles or other ver- 

 min. The safest way is to gather the eggs and rear the 

 young with hens or tame mallards in safe quarters. The 

 presence of strangers is apt to keep shy ducks from breeding. 

 They should have absolute privacy during the mating and 

 laying period. 



Whealton's Method. J. W. Whealton, on Chincoteague 

 Island, Virginia, breeds black ducks by keeping a flock of 

 them in a paddock of four acres, with small fresh ponds and 

 marsh. Besides grain, they are given lettuce and eel-grass, 

 of which they are very fond. The place is a thicket of tall 

 weeds, grass, and bushes. The ducks breed under the tan- 

 gle, and are allowed to raise their own young. In common 

 with the experience of others, he finds that captured black 

 ducks are of shy and nervous temperament, and that it is 

 hard to make them breed save in a large area of this sort. 

 Vermin are kept down, and usually he raises a good number 

 of young. One year he tried keeping a pair of Egyptian 

 geese in the paddock, but the murderous gander hunted out 

 and killed all the seventy-five young ducks. 



Ducklings with Adults. In the case of some ponds, such 

 as artificial ones where there is little natural food, it 

 sometimes happens that nests escape observation, and ducks 

 bring off broods. It is difficult to capture the brood without 

 frightening the stock and perhaps preventing laying. On 

 the other hand, the large ducks clean up the food so thor- 

 oughly that the young are likely to starve. A plan to ob- 

 viate this is to build an enclosure of 3-inch mesh wire, partly 

 on shore and partly in the water, and place proper food for 

 the duckhngs within it, close to the water's edge. They will 

 learn to go there for food, which is reserved for them, since 

 the larger ducks cannot get through the wire. Under such 



