12 TALKS ABOUT BIRDS 



pigeons, and another writer says that you 

 should keep ducks in a special yard netted 

 over, for fear they should fly out. This shows 

 the Roman ducks must have been pretty wild, 

 for the ordinary tame duck can hardly fly a 

 foot off the ground ; and besides he goes on to 

 say that if you want to increase your stock of 

 ducks you should get wild ducks' eggs and 

 put them under hens. This was at about the 

 beginning of the time of the Roman emperors, 

 and the duck they were taming was no doubt 

 the ordinary wild duck which is still so common 

 in this country, as our modern tame ducks are 

 certainly its descendants. 



The flamingo seems a strange bird in the 

 poultry-yard, but the Romans do not seem to 

 have bred it, but only kept it to eat, no doubt 

 fattening the birds which had been caught 

 wild. Flamingoes are still common all along 

 the Mediterranean coasts, and are still caught 

 for zoological gardens and the collections of 

 people who like keeping rare and beautiful 

 birds. 



Peacocks were very important birds to 

 the Roman poultry-keeper, for they took the 

 place that the turkey does now, and were kept 



