174 PROPAGATION OF WILD BIRDS 



other ducklings, some would learn to eat, but others would 

 refuse food and exhaust themselves trying to escape. The 

 young Anatinae, or river ducks, usually got straightened 

 out, but ducklings of the diving species, if captured when 

 small, were hard to save. If they were caught older, when 

 they had vitality to survive a period of " sulks," they came 

 through all right. The best way with such, I found, was to 

 feed live flies or other insects, especially in a pan of water. 

 They were not interested, usually, unless the insects moved. 

 Hence flies captured had to be crippled or soaked, so they 

 could not take wing. They liked worms also. Sometimes, 

 however, in the cold, rough weather of the region of Hud- 

 son's Bay, it was very difficult to find insects, frequently 

 at critical times when they were badly needed. It would 

 be well to keep worms on hand, and also flies in traps. 



Ruddy Duck. One kind of duckling, the ruddy duck, I 

 could do nothing with. This species is in many ways 

 most peculiar. Though a small species, the eggs are larger 

 than those of the mallard or canvasback. We hatched out 

 one small brood and caught young from another. These 

 ducklings are round, fat, helpless things, almost unable to 

 stand up on land. During the early stage they seemed 

 utterly stupid, refusing to eat or to notice anything. If 

 found with the old duck in the marsh, unlike the spry skulk- 

 ing young of other species, they made little effort to escape, 

 and allowed themselves to be picked up. At that time I 

 had not had experience with these ducks difficult to rear, 

 and could do nothing with them. They would not take 

 food, and refused to swallow any that was put down their 

 throats. I made an attempt to feed them in water, but 

 had no insects, the weather being bad. Some died from 

 chill, and none survived beyond the fifth day. Examina- 

 tion showed the abdominal cavity still full of yolk of egg, 



