THE ANGLER AND HUNTSMAN 191 



Buddy Duck: 



"Erismatura jamaicensis," or Ruddy Duck, has a wide 

 winter range, some retiring in winter to the southern part of 

 the range, to southern Lower California, Tepic, Valley of 

 Mexico, Oaxaca, and Central Guatemala, while others re- 

 main as far north as southern British Columbia. It is also 

 found in winter in Southern Illinois, Pennsylvania, the 

 coast of Massachusetts, and even to Maine. Also from the 

 Chesapeake Bay to Florida it is quite a common winter 

 resident, though rapidly being diminished in numbers. 



Mallards Best for Wild Duck Farms: 



Raising mallard ducks is an industry that should par- 

 ticularly appeal to the average sportsman, an industry cal- 

 culated to supplement the decreasing natural supply of 

 game. 



The ease with which the mallard can be bred makes it 

 the best species for wild duck farming, and its beauty, popu- 

 larity, hardiness, adaptability and fecundity fit it as no 

 other duck is fitted to become the game duck of the future. 



When it is realized that only one-tenth of the food of 

 the mallard is derived from the animal kingdom and about 

 nine-tenths from the vegetable, it will be seen how easy the 

 problem of propagating these ducks would be. They feed 

 mostly on aquatic plants, such as the sedges, water grass, 

 smartweeds, pondweeds, duckweeds, coontail and other 

 semi-aquatic plants. A government expert recently found 

 in the stomach of one mallard 102,400 seeds of primrose wil- 

 low. It is also known that they feed on water beetles, bugs, 

 and dragonflies. 



If you own ponds, lakes, or can improve such bodies of 

 water, it would be possible to breed and raise mallards in a 

 semi-domesticated state at little cost. 



For the sportsmen who desire to engage in this worthy 

 enterprise, the writer has compiled information relative to 



