282 



THE AMERICAN POULTERER'S COMPANION. 



The internal arrangement of these houses 

 may vary according to the means and taste of 

 the proprietor, only providing the ducks with 

 nests or nest-boxes, in order that they may lay 

 and incubate undisturbed, and affording proper 

 protection for the young. 



" It is a mistaken notion," says Ames, in the 

 "Rural Cabinet," "to suppose that ducks must 

 have a pond or run of water ; they will do very 

 well where there is none. A small pan or 

 shallow tub sunk in the ground and placed so 

 as to receive the waste water from the pump or 

 well, will aiford every necessary arrangement." 

 But from our experience we are satisfied that 

 where there is no piece of water or stream, they 

 will not do as well, nor do they appear as beau- 

 tiful. It is not in all situations that ducks can 

 be kept with advantage; they require water 

 much more even than geese ; they are no gra- 

 ziers, yet they are hearty feeders. Confine- 

 ment will not do for them ; a paddock, a pas- 

 ture, an orchard, a green lane, and a pond ; a 

 farm-yard, with barns, and water; a common, 

 smooth and level, with a sheet of water, and nice 

 ditches, abounding in the season with tadpoles 

 and the larva? of aquatic insects, are the local- 

 ities in which the duck delights, and in such 

 are they kept at little expense. It could not 

 answer any where but in cold aquatic places. It 

 would be fruitless to persevere in the desire of 

 bringing up ducks in dry and barren places ; 

 their flesh would neither be so tender nor so 

 sweet. In this case, it is better to take, in 

 preference to them, some other birds, to whom 

 the localities are better suited, to come into 

 the views which are in contemplation. 



Pairing and Laying. One drake, according 

 to M. Parmentier, is sufficient for eight or ten 

 ducks, while Columella limits the number of 

 ducks*to six ; and others to four or five. Few 

 of the common ducks begin to lay until the 

 latter part of February, and then only when 

 well fed ; but so far from producing the limited 

 number of about sixteen eggs, some will lay as 

 many as fifty, and nearly double that number. 

 They do not usually continue to lay, however, 

 later than May or June, unless they are particu- 

 larly well fed the great secret of rendering 

 them prolific, provided they do not become too 



fat. A strong desire for the selection of her 

 own nest, is generally found to influence the 

 duck ; but this is mainly the case as the time 

 draws on for incubation, since previously to 

 that period, if the egg has not been laid before 

 they have been let out of their house in the 

 early morning, it is usually dropped at ran- 

 dom wherever, iri fact, the bird may chance 

 to be when the time comes. In clear, shallow 

 water, many eggs are constantly found, and in 

 deeper pools, when cleaned out, the relics of 

 such are often visible. 



At the laying season, therefore, clucks require 

 to be closely watched and looked after, inas- 

 much as they are not so easily brought to lay in 

 the nests prepared for them as common fowls, 

 but will stray away to hedges and other by- 

 places to lay, and will even sometimes drop 

 their eggs in the water. When they succeed in 

 laying out their number of eggs without their 

 nest being discovered, they will hatch them, and 

 not make their appearance till they bring their 

 young family home to the yard, except in raw, 

 cold weather. 



If the nest selected by the duck be tolerably 

 secure, it is better to allow her to continue there, 

 for rarely will she sit well if removed from the 

 spot of her own choice. But careless as we 

 have seen her of the egg, no bird becomes more 

 anxious for the nest and its contents when the 

 more important duties of incubation are about 

 to commence. The hollow of a wood-pile, or 

 grassy hedge, or the shelter of some evergreen 

 shrubs, are among the sites that appear most 

 attractive. Here the ground is scraped out for 

 an inch or so, and this, with a few leaves, is all 

 that is thought necessary, till the duck finds 

 that the time has come for its constant oc- 

 cupation. It is then well lined with her own 

 down, and a store of leaves and grass is pre- 

 pared, with which the eggs on the occasion of 

 the mother's absence are entirely covered and 

 concealed. 



Thirteen eggs are a full allowance for a duck, 

 and these should be as fresh as possible, for cer- 

 tainly the eggs of ducks do not keep so well for 

 hatching as those of fowls. Whenever, there- 

 fore, we notice the preliminaries of a desire on 

 the part of a duck to take to her nest, we allow 



