458 THE TAME DUCK. 



passage plainly declaring that they were, but many implying 

 that they were not. 



Columella, after having given directions for the rearing of 

 Geese, which, with one or two laughable exceptions, are moro 

 sensible and practical than are to be found in modern works, 

 proceeds to offer instructions for making the Nessotrophion, or 

 Duckery. He speaks of it as a matter of curiosity rather than 

 profit; "for Ducks, Teal, Mallard, Phalerids, and such like 

 birds are fed in confinement." Then it is to be surrounded 

 with a wall fifteen feet high, and roofed with netting, "that 

 the domestic birds may have no power of flying out, nor Eagles 

 and Hawks of flying in." His mode of increasing his stock 

 shows that Ducks had not at that time become naturalized and 

 prolific inmates of the Roman Poultry-yards. "When any 

 one is desirous of establishing a Duckery, it is a very old mode 

 to collect the Eggs of the above-mentioned birds, (such as Teal, 

 Mallard, &c.,) and to place them under common Hens. For 

 the young thus hatched and reared, cast off their wild tempers, 

 and undoubtedly breed when confined in menageries. For if 

 it is your plan to place fresh-caught birds, that are accustomed 

 to a free mode of life, in captivity, they will be but slow 

 breeders in a state of bondage." Lib. viii. cap. 15. 



Cicero also speaks of hatching Ducks' Eggs under Hens, 

 (De Natura Deorum ;) but there is nothing in the passage 

 from which to infer that those Ducks were domesticated, but 

 rather the contrary; as he remarks how soon they abandon 

 their foster-mother and shift for themselves. 



Pliny describes the flight of Ducks, as rising immediately 

 from the water into the higher regions of the atmosphere, (lib. 

 x. 54,) exactly as we see a Wild Duck rise now ; a performance 

 that would make our duck-keepers uneasy. The very little 

 mention that he makes of Ducks at all, shows that he did not 

 habitually see them in domestication. 



From what JElian says about Ducks, we may conclude that 



