472 THE TAME DUCK. 



way is to commence handling them as soon as hatched, by 

 which means, and by confining them for some time within an 

 enclosed place, they soon become more reasonable. In every 

 case, I have not been able to trust them until the feathers be- 

 gan to appear; but in several seasons that I have reared them, 

 they have been so distrustful, that it was not safe to allow them 

 liberty, and as soon as ever their wings were grown, they were 

 bff. On one occasion, I had two of these birds, about a quar- 

 ter grown, that grew exceedingly slowly : they were very wild, 

 and one night made their escape to the river, where they re- 

 mained until the evening of. the following day, when they 

 were retaken. If I had not previously marked them, nobody 

 should ever have persuaded me that they were the same. I 

 could not have conceived that less than twenty-four hours' im- 

 mersion in the river could have caused the growth it did : but 

 so it was. Another time, I succeeded in making a couple so 

 gentle and sociable, that when half-grown, they would follow 

 ine, and eat out of my hand. Soaked bread they are very fond of 

 when young; afterwards corn, &c.: the seed-tufts of the sedge 

 are a great treat, when soaked in their water. The two birds 

 above mentioned were both ladies, and, while I was trying to 

 procure a drake, (no easy matter,) they vanished, about the end 

 of November, being probably whipped up when out in an ad- 

 joining road. One year I lost a fine brood by turning them 

 into an exquisite little pond (as we thought) that had been 

 lined with lime, whereby they became immovably stuck at 

 the sides, and perished. Another time, in our great kindness, 

 we procured some river weeds, water-crowfoot, &c., and 

 placed them in their pond, forgetting it was not a running 

 water. The poor little things became apparently tipsy, 

 rolling and turning about in all directions and speedily com- 

 ing to an end. One set of docile creatures I succeeded in 

 rearing, turned out to be four Drakes; and so, for one reason 

 or another, none have remained over the winter the more to 



