230 TURKEYS, ORNAMENTAL POULTRY, AND WATtelt-FOWL. 



perseverance great difficulties of this kind have been overcome, 

 and hybrids, formerly considered barren, have been found at 

 least partially fertile ; but in this case interbreeding has been 

 so often tried that we cannot consider the field very promising. 

 One great obstacle is the extreme and apparently untamable 

 wildness of the hybrid from which it is wished to breed ; and 

 the only chance of success would appear to be rearing such 

 singly, in company with his or her intended mate. 



We have only one further remark to make. Pheasants 

 should never be caught with the hand, as their bones are 

 fractured with the greatest ease. An implement should be 

 kept for the purpose, resembling a large butterfly net, but 

 with the bag of open netting instead of gauze. Jn this way 

 they may be caught when needed with the utmost facility ; 

 but they should never be meddled with more than absolutely 

 necessary. 



CHAPTER XXVIIL 



WATER-FOWL. 



THE above heading should be borne in mind before such stock 

 is added to the poultry-yard. They are strictly water birds ; 

 and although ducks may be often seen in courts and alleys, 

 where the nearest approach to a pond which they have ever 

 known is some filthy mud-puddle, to keep animals whose 

 habitat is so well marked in such unnatural circumstances 

 must revolt every truly humane mind, and cannot in the long 

 run repay any one who attempts it. 



DUCKS. In the case of these birds alone may some little 

 exception be made to the above remark, as they will do well 

 in a garden or any other tolerably wide range where they can 

 procure plenty of slugs and worms, with a pond or cistern 

 only a few feet across. Kept in this manner, they will not 

 only be found profitable, but very serviceable; keeping the 



