PROCURING STOCK BIRDS AND EGGS 37 



ducks with which I made some experiments, and I pre- 

 fer this method of confining them to pinioning, since 

 the birds can fly later when the wing feathers grow in 

 again. I was surprised to see how rapidly the feathers 

 were replaced, and I plucked my ducks several times 

 before permitting them to fly about. On game farms 

 many of the stock birds are pinioned, of course. After 

 the birds have mated and the ducks begin to lay there 

 is little danger of their deserting, provided they are well 

 looked after and fed regularly. 



In a wild state the ducks are monogamous, or nearly 

 so, but on the preserve one drake seems sufficient to 

 serve two or three ducks when they are yarded. When 

 the ducks are kept in flocks and have access to a large 

 water, Captain Gates says, there should be plenty of 

 drakes, say fifteen drakes to twenty ducks. 



When the preserve is well situated on or near other 

 waters which are preserved or which are much fre- 

 quented by migratory birds many visitors may be ex- 

 pected, and often a wild bird will remain to mate with 

 one of the ducks on the preserve. It is desirable to pre- 

 vent elopements, and many gamekeepers trap the visi- 

 tors and pinion them. 



It is an easy matter to trap some of the visiting ducks 

 in a wire enclosure (built partly on the land and partly 

 in the water), open on the water side, where there is a 

 sliding door which can be dropped after the wild ducks 

 enter the trap, or a swinging door which will close 

 quickly when a catch is released. The tame ducks can 

 be fed daily in this enclosure, and the wilder birds will 

 follow into the trap, when the trapper, who controls 

 the door by means of a string, is well concealed. 



