SHOOTING WILD DUCKS ARTIFICIALLY REARED 305 



rise duck in small batches out of covert and from several miles 

 of streams, than from sheets of water where every bird can 

 see all that happens. The driving from pool to pool is oftenest 

 resorted to, but in that case the artificially reared birds are 

 more easily employed as an additional sport to many days 

 than for regular duck days. 



At Netherby there have been 10,000 hand-reared duck in 

 a season, and difficulty only arises when it is sought to kill 

 a good proportion of these in one day. Here there are three 

 or four different rearing places or " homes." Most of the eggs 

 have in the past been purchased, and placed under domestic 

 hens in the manner of pheasants' eggs. At Tring Park the 

 eggs are procured by penning off a portion of marsh and 

 water of about 4 acres, and the birds are caught up, wing 

 clipped, and turned out in this, in the proportion of three 

 duck to a mallard. At Tring the young duck are started 

 with some hard-boiled egg, bread-crumbs, and boiled rice, 

 but at Netherby this is done with duck meal ; later, they are 

 fed on maize porridge mixed dryish, and later with maize 

 whole and dry. At Netherby they are given a little pan of 

 water to each coop from the first. This has to serve until 

 they are three weeks old, when puddles 30 feet in circum- 

 ference are made for them ; and although ten in a coop is the 

 rule, and they are shut in at nights along with the foster- 

 mother, they crowd in hundreds into these clay constructed 

 puddles. The food is also given in a small pan at each coop. 

 Any method which drops sticky food on the backs of the 

 ducks is sure to lead to trouble. At six weeks old the birds 

 are taken to their permanent homes, which at Netherby are 

 mostly the brooks or burns flowing through the estate. 



Wet is not bad for young ducks as long as they can get 

 under the brooding hen, but wet and cold as well is not their 

 best weather, and none of the most successful breeders allow 

 the little ducks to have their fling in large sheets of water, or 

 even ponds or brooks, until they are six weeks old. When 

 quite small, the greatest enemies of the duck are hot sun with- 

 out shade, and cold wind. In the early stages they are best 



