THE DUCK 103 



but if you don't catch it with the first snap of the 

 beak, you get it by diving. The little shell-fish 

 hides under the leaves, and that 's where you must 

 hunt if you want to find it. The larva frequents 

 warm mud; seek, my children, near the shore and 

 you will find it. The lively frog calls for nimble 

 tactics : a quick snap of the beak will fetch him. All 

 that is so soon and so well understood by the duck- 

 lings, that the mother does not have to look after 

 their food ; her part is simply to gather them under 

 her wing to keep them warm when the family retires 

 to the shore to rest or to pass the night. 



4 * Apart from the love of traveling, which many 

 centuries of domestication have caused to be forgot- 

 ten, the habits of the tame duck do not differ from 

 those of the wild. The female duck begins to lay 'in 

 February or March, and lays from forty to fifty eggs 

 a year, if one is careful to remove them as they are 

 laid. These eggs are slightly larger than the hen's, 

 smoother, rounder, sometimes dull white, sometimes 

 a little greenish. The duck is impelled by instinct 

 to lay them among the neighboring reeds and rushes, 

 and it is therefore necessary to watch her if one 

 does not wish to run the risk of losing the eggs. 



"Domestication does not by any means always im- 

 prove the qualities of animals subjected to our care. 

 If there is gain in corpulence, in quantity of ali- 

 mentary matter, there is frequently loss on the side 

 of what might be called the moral qualities. So it is 

 that the tame duck is not so good a brooder nor so de- 

 voted a mother as the wild one. The hen, on the 



