POULTRY BREEDING. 241 



plumage, fine dark flesh, even better in flavour than that 

 of an ordinary wild duck ; but of course the pure 

 Aylesbury strain was what I most cultivated. 



All round Aylesbury the cottagers keep their " set of 

 ducks." It is these whose snow-white plumage the 

 tourist admires on the river Thame. They are driven 

 home at night and well looked after. The eggs are 

 hatched out by Dorking or Cochin China hens, for ducks 

 are bad sitters. Often the eggs are sold to a " ducker," 

 who gets them hatched, and then raises and fattens the 

 young ducks, sometimes four or five thousand head in a 

 season. These young ducklings are very carefully and 

 artificially fed, first on hard-boiled eggs chopped fine 

 with rice and mixed with finely-chopped bullock's liver, 

 and afterwards with barley-meal and tallow greaves, 

 with perhaps a little horseflesh ; their hTe extends over 

 only eight or nine weeks, and of the joys of pond and 

 river they have no experience. The Aylesbury duckling 

 has, or rather had, no competitor. In the beginning of 

 the season he used to be worth some eighteen shillings 

 per couple, later in the season eleven or thirteen. 



The pure Aylesbury breed, long-bodied, white plumage, 



without spot, with pale, flesh-coloured bill and bright 



orange-coloured legs and feet, is prized everywhere for 



its great size, delicacy, and merchantable quality. A 



white duck always looks cleaner when plucked, and is 



consequently more saleable than a darker-hued one. But 



the pure Aylesburys seem to lose their *' points " in other 



places ; it is a purely local breed. The first sign of 



degeneracy is the appearance of dark spots or splashes 



on the bill. About Aylesbury there is abundance of 



R 



