WILD DUCKS 121 



or the part of the pond fenced off. At the very least there 

 should be 30 feet of long grass and tangle back from the shore, 

 and 100 feet would be better. Another good plan would be 

 to have the fence at least 30 to 40 feet back around the 

 pond, and at one end an acre or two of meadow or pasture 

 in the same enclosure. 



Winter Shelter. During the greater part of the year 

 waterfowl need no shelter whatever. For the most part 

 they stay on the water, sunning themselves at times along 

 the water's edge. When the pond begins to freeze they 

 gather in a flock, and, by swimming around at night, keep 

 open a small area. Ordinarily a duck is comfortable if it 

 can keep its feet from freezing, and as long as it can stay 

 in the water it is all right. Some owners of waterfowl keep 

 their birds entirely in the open throughout the year. Usu- 

 ally the birds prefer to stay in the water, and will not go 

 voluntarily to any house or shelter unless driven out of the 

 pond. When there is an inlet or outlet, and hence a current, 

 the water does not freeze readily, and the fowl will take ad- 

 vantage of this and select such a spot to keep the water open. 



Extreme Cold too Severe. During some winters, how- 

 ever, there are very severe spells, during which it is exceed- 

 ingly difficult to keep ducks from freezing in the ice during 

 the night. In January and February, 1914, there were two 

 such spells in Connecticut and elsewhere, when the tempera- 

 ture dropped well below zero for several days. On several 

 estates a number of the smaller or weaker ducks perished. 

 On the Childs-Walcott estate, Norfolk, Connecticut, at high 

 elevation, where the mercury dropped to 30 below zero, 

 the shovellers, which have a long fringe of bristles on the 

 upper mandible, had their bills freeze up every time they 

 dipped them in the water, and they were all lost. The stock 

 was kept out in water where a brook flowed into the pond, 



