DUCKS. 109 



the common varieties. They will breed with other 

 ducks, but the hybrids are mules, or sterile. While kept 

 mostly as curiosities, or for ornamental purposes, the 

 crosses are said to make excellent market poultry. 



The Pekin is an Asiatic variety having been first 

 imported from Pekin, China, in 1873. The plumage 

 is white with a creamy-yellow shading, the feathers 

 being downy and fluffy like Asiatic chickens. While 

 the "Standard" gives their weights as a pound lighter 

 than Rouens or Aylesburys, they are commonly 

 regarded as a larger duck than either. 



The introduction of the Pekins to this country 

 gave a new impetus to duck breeding, and many 

 persons have entered into it on an extensive scale. 

 While they are prolific layers of large eggs, mostly 

 white-shelled, they are also the great market duck. 

 Their bills and shanks are a deep orange-yellow and 

 their skin also is yellow. As the plumage is white 

 and the pinfeathers leave no stain on the flesh, they 

 make the finest dressed carcass of any variety. 



The keeping of ducks for eggs is a profitable part 

 of the duck business, when rightly conducted, and 

 the keeper is within easy access to a city market. 

 During the early spring months duck eggs bring 

 higher prices than hen eggs, and it is at this season 

 that ducks are most prolific. To obtain the best 

 results from eggs the laying ducks should be hatched 

 the latter part of the breeding season, in June and 

 July. The spring-hatched will grow larger and will 

 make better breeding stock, but with proper care 

 these late broods will lay as soon as the severity of 

 winter is over, as soon, in fact, as the early-hatched, 



