ARTIFICIAL REARING OF WILD DUCKS 55 



the size of the box and, having removed some of the 

 earth underneath the center of the sod, place it, grass 

 upwards, in the box. Line the nest with dry moss. 



Mr. De Visme Shaw favors placing the nests on the 

 ground. The sitting hens and ducks should be fed on 

 corn or other grain, and the hen should be taken off 

 and fed and watered daily. 



When the duck starts to sit, if she has not enough 

 eggs the nest can be filled up from the eggs which have 

 been previously gathered. It has been recorded in the 

 Shooting Times and British Sportsman that a duck will 

 dispose of an egg or two if she thinks she has too many, 

 and Captain Gates says upon one occasion when one 

 of his ducks was sitting on fifteen eggs a friend on 

 whose veracity he could rely, saw the duck fly from her 

 nest, close to where he was standing, with an egg in her 

 bill. She flew to the water about 150 yards away, ap- 

 parently without breaking the egg; but, unfortunately, 

 his friend could not get up in time to see what she did 

 with it. She hatched out the rest of her eggs satis- 

 factorily.* 



Since the wild duck returns to her nest with her 

 feathers wet after being on the water, the wild duck 

 eggs should be sprinkled occasionally with tepid water 

 when they are hatched under hens. This should be done 

 effectively as the time for hatching approaches. 



Mr. De Visme Shaw advises that on the twenty-fifth 

 day the eggs and nest be removed and that a quart or 

 more of water be poured into the nesting box, allowing 



*Captain W. Coape Gates' "Wild Ducks." For breeding periods of the 

 different species breeding wild, see Audubon Am. Ornith. ; Wilson Ornith. ; 

 Bmrd, Brewer & Ridgway, N. A. M. Birds ; Appendix. 



