220 FACT AGxVINST FICTION. 



use ivhatever. The best dccoy-cluQks to begin with 

 are the half-bred ones before alluded to; they, or 

 ducks reared by hancl^ are mentioned in a clever 

 Avork (^ Notes on Fields and Cattle/ by the Eev. 

 W. H. Beever), Avhich every farmer ouglit to 

 have. If I recollect right, Mr. Beever alluded 

 to his ducks as being from eggs of the wild sort, 

 but reared in the farmyard by hand. Birds so 

 reared and bred will at times be localized, but 

 they are apt to be led away by Avild ones ; and to 

 7naJce store oftuhat is wanted, let the ducks at hrst 

 be half-bred. 



They will go on and on breeding among them- 

 selves, and crossing with the wild birds ; but the 

 attachment to place, however remote the strain 

 may become, never leaves the ducJcj whose origin 

 was as I describe. On each succeeding ^^ear I 

 breed up hundreds of ducks by hand, and thougli 

 the wild ^^lead" to my decoy Is established, I 

 shall continue to do so with (dl first nests. 

 My reason for this is that the first nests in 

 February, March, and April, come out in such 

 cold weather, that in my mineral impregnated 

 springs, or, indeed, anywhere else, on deep 

 water, the young ducks, unassisted by man, can- 



