VII 



ARTIFICIAL REARING OF WILD DUCKS 



YVTHERE ducks are artificially reared they should be 

 ** induced to nest in safe enclosures, wired against 

 vermin. The nesting ground should be a grassy field, 

 shaded on one or more sides by trees, which also give 

 shelter from cold winds. The nesting places usually 

 are made of brush arranged to form little shelters 

 over the nests. On some preserves the nests and 

 sheltering covers are very elaborately made, but on the 

 preserves where I have seen thousands of ducks the 

 nests were simply protected by small brush stood up 

 in a conical form with an entrance at one side for the 

 duck. 



Captain Oates says : "Ducks love to nest in stacks, 

 and I have known a pinioned bird to work her way up 

 the side of a stack and make her nest fifteen feet from 

 the ground. In stacks birds can burrow so deep that 

 no weather, however inclement, can damage the eggs. 

 Outhouses, too, are very favorite places for ducks to 

 lay in; also old stick heaps and the bottom of thick 

 hedges." 



On a Long Island preserve I saw ducks nesting be- 

 side an overturned stump among the roots and on a 



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