i62 PROPAGATION OF WILD BIRDS 



They are fed in similar troughs, all being 3 inches deep, 

 6 inches wide, and 8 to 10 feet long. Feeding troughs must 

 be cleaned thoroughly. They are fed only what they can 

 clean up in a few minutes. For shade he uses light tables 

 in front of each coop, 18 inches high and 3 by 6 feet in area. 



This matter of shade for ducklings is of great importance. 

 In a rearing-field there should be, if possible, some trees and 

 shrubbery. If not, shade must be provided, either by ar- 

 bors, awnings, brush-piles, or other such devices. At the 

 Clove Valley Club the rearing-field is in a sort of open grove, 

 so there is good shade and sufficient sunlight. For the first 

 week the ducklings are kept in small yards with the hens. 

 Then they are allowed to run all together. At night the 

 keeper evens them up, if too many go to one hen. When 

 they are two months old they are driven, on a warm morn- 

 ing, to the pond where they are to mature. It is a flooded 

 mine, and has little or no natural feed, but it answers the 

 purpose. At first the ducks get badly soaked, so the first 

 days they are not allowed to stay in the water long, but are 

 driven out into an enclosure. As soon as they get oiled up 

 they stay on the pond nearly all the time, also bask on the 

 banks, and come to feed morning and night when called. 

 When they learn to fly they do not leave, especially as the 

 flock of twelve or fifteen hundred creates a good social nu- 

 cleus. They fly about some, but are on hand to feed. 

 They are easily caught by feeding them inside a covered pen. 



Brooder Method. Young wild ducks can be successfully 

 hatched in incubators and reared in brooders, as I have 

 proven by raising a dozen different kinds in this way. The 

 keeping of proper temperatures, however, is so exacting a 

 task, requiring incessant vigil day and night, that I should 

 never recommend it, or employ it myself, except in case of 

 necessity, as I did in the wilds of the Northwest where it 



