132 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



the first importation to England in 1872. The exact truth is not 

 of importance in such a matter, but those who are interested in 

 the remarkable developments in duck culture which followed 

 the arrival of this breed in the Western World naturally wish 

 to know the facts. All accounts agree that there were only a 

 few ducks brought from China. In England the Pekin became 

 quite popular at once. It was hardier and more prolific than the 

 Aylesbury, and was used largely in outcrosses, to give vigor to 



Aylesbury stock. In America 

 it became immensely popular 

 in a few years. It was found 

 to be remarkably well adapted 

 to intensive methods of poul- 

 try keeping, and large duck 

 farms were built up ; some of 

 these made very large profits 

 for long periods of years. 



The Indian Runner Duck 

 is a small, active duck which 

 originated long ago as the 

 common duck on the meadows 

 of certain marshy districts in 

 the Netherlands. The peas- 

 ants of these districts com- 

 pelled their ducks to forage 



for their food, and so developed ducks with a more upright car- 

 riage and stronger legs than the other races. In the Netherlands 

 these ducks are of all colors. 



Ducks of this type, in color white with fawn-colored markings, 

 were introduced to poultry fanciers in England in 1893 or 1894 

 as Indian Runner Ducks. It was said that they had been first 

 brought from India to Cumberland fifty or sixty years before, 

 and that ever since that time they had been bred pure by a few 

 breeders and more or less mixed with the common stock of that 



FIG. 126. Indian Runner Ducks. (Pho- 

 tograph from owner, Clayton Ballard, 

 White Pine, Tennessee) 



