250 DOMESTIC WATER FOWL DUCKS. 



The presence of a small running stream of water, 

 or a wholesome pond, is of course indispensable in the 

 rearing and keeping of these birds to advantage, and 

 without trouble, for without this they are miserable 

 dirty looking objects ; while, on the contrary, nothing 

 can exceed the interest which arises from looking at 

 their droll evolutions, and beautiful gestures, in their 

 own natural element. 



Ducks are profitable as layers of eggs, of which 

 they deposit prodigious numbers, commencing early in 

 spring, and seldom leaving off the operation, daily, till 

 towards autumn; and although their eggs are not 

 esteemed so highly as those of the Common Fowl, they 

 are most useful in many domestic purposes. Their 

 food may consist of the same materials as that already 

 mentioned for other Poultry. 



Ducks may be housed at night in the same apart- 

 ment with other Poultry, care being taken to protect 

 them from the droppings of the birds perched upon 

 the roosts above them, and a proper comfortable bed of 

 straw strewed on the ground below, for the Ducks to 

 rest upon ; the heat arising, and ascending to the other 

 birds upon the roosts, we believe, benefits both. 



