534 DUCK SHOOTING. 



that we have bred, were in a large lake with cover on 

 the island, and the young have simply been let alone, 

 with the result that all grew up except a few that fell 

 victims to rats. I have no doubt at all that many 

 water fowl which do not breed in a Zoological Gar- 

 den, would do so in the seclusion of private ponds." 



At a club in Currituck Sound, where there is a stand 

 of from twenty to twenty-five wild geese, two or three 

 of the birds lay and hatch each year. The number 

 raised, however, is comparatively small, for the eggs 

 are few, and the danger to the goslings after they are 

 hatched, from minks, coons, and other wild animals, 

 very great. At other points goose breeding is more 

 successful, and no doubt a considerable number of the 

 birds are reared in captivity each year. 



As time goes on, the captive wildfowl will no doubt 

 adapt themselves to their surroundings so far as to 

 breed in confinement. The late Major Fred Mather 

 was at one time the owner of a very considerable flock 

 of wildfowl of various sorts. He met the usual dif- 

 ficulties and discouragements, but was successful in 

 raising many wood ducks, and bred other species. An 

 account of his flock, written a year or two before his 

 death, was published in Forest and Stream, and is, in 

 part, as follows: 



Discarding all the old-squaws, sea coots, whist- 

 lers, and other birds which cannot be confined to a diet 

 of grain, vegetable and such animal food as our tame 

 ducks get, there are ten American ducks well worthy 

 of domestication and of keeping pure, by one who loves 



