WATER BIRDS. 211 



directed against parasites, and as being performed for 

 the purpose of cleaning the feathers from any cloggy 

 matter that may be on them, including the effects of 

 natural perspiration ; the process of pluming themselves 

 being by no means so frequently repeated as in water- 

 fowl/' " 



I am afraid Mr. Zurhorst has mistaken, as I believe 

 has often been done before, the preening which ducks 

 give to their feathers for the alleged process of " oiling." 

 I have made careful observations with an especial refe- 

 rence to this question, for the last fifteen years, and I 

 never once succeeded in witnessing any duck make 

 repeated application to the oil gland ; in fact, it was 

 from watching domestic ducks that I first became con- 

 vinced of what I consider the fallacy of the common 

 opinion. I have seen them trim the feathers around the 

 glands with as much care as any others, but not more 

 so ; and, as Mr. Zurhorst says, I have marked them go 

 over their feathers "inch by inch." This assiduous preen- 

 ing of the feathers by the domestic duck is greatly sur- 

 passed by wild birds, and both have good reason for the 

 practice. It is absolutely essential, both for warmth and 

 dryness, that their plumage shall lie close and compact 

 a disordered feather is therefore all-important, and, no 

 matter how oily the plumage may be, such a feather 

 would admit the water, and hence the necessity of care- 

 ful preening. Nothing can surpass the trim neatness 

 of wild ducks, for instance, and I have been surprised at 

 the time spent by them, as well as by widgeon and teal, 

 over their toilets. 



Mr. Zurhorst's Aylesbury ducks are an illustration in 

 my favour. All birds thus fed up in confinement are in 

 an unnatural condition, and more or less unhealthy - 



P 2 



