i66 PROPAGATION OF WILD BIRDS 



that they do not get soaked and chilled, especially in cold 

 weather or at night. 



Keeping Clean. Another advantage gained by judi- 

 ciously allowing bathing is that the ducklings are then able to 

 clean their plumage. One of the most serious difficulties in 

 raising young ducks on dry land is that they run over one 

 another and get their backs fouled. In trying to rub it off 

 they get their necks, heads, and eyes stuck up, and are likely 

 to die. Sometimes I have spent whole mornings, on warm 

 days, cleaning ducklings by hand, with warm water. By 

 the above plan they will attend to their own toilets. 



Method of Cox. The method of Mr. Cox in handling 

 ducklings is as follows: He never lets ducks rear their 

 young if he can avoid it, but always rears them with ban tarns. 

 Sometimes he sets eggs under ordinary hens, occasionally 

 as many as sixteen, and when they are nearly hatched, or 

 as soon as broody bantams are ready, he gives them to the 

 bantams, about eight apiece. Thus they are less liable to 

 be trampled. 



At first he keeps the bantam and ducklings in a Hodgson's 

 coop No. 5, with a little wire run. In the case of the young 

 wood ducks and mandarins, which at first are determined 

 to climb out, this run is covered. In five or six days they 

 learn the call of the hen, after which they are not so anxious 

 to leave her. One-half inch mesh is used for these small 

 ducklings. He has large flower-pot saucers sunk in the 

 ground, and lets the ducklings bathe from the first. In 

 cold or wet weather he takes this water away, gives them 

 drinking-water only in fonts, and mostly keeps them shut 

 up in the coop. 



When they are a few days old he removes the small run 

 and lets them out in grassy yards about 8 feet square, 

 one brood in each, using the same coop. He has large sheet- 



