200 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XIV. 



activity in diving for them when they are flung into 

 the water. If they are given to him on land, he 

 usually carries each worm to the water before 

 eating it. Even when brought into the house he 

 seems quite at home. Many kinds of wild fowl 

 might, with a little care, be perfectly domesticated, 

 and I have no doubt would breed freely. Care 

 must, however, be taken to prevent their flying 

 away at the migrating seasons, and also to keep 

 them at home when they begin to make their nests, 

 as at that time they seem inclined to wander off in 

 search of quiet and undisturbed places. I have no 

 doubt that the sheldrake might be tamed in this 

 way, and after a few generations of them had been 

 bred at home, that these birds would become as 

 useful for the table as our common ducks, and 

 would be far more ornamental. 



After two or three generations of any bird have 

 been domesticated the young ones lose all their 

 wild inclinations, tameness becoming hereditary with 

 them, as skill and the power of benefiting by edu- 

 cation become hereditary in dogs to a very striking 

 degree. 



Though the flesh of the wild sheldrake is quite 

 unfit to eat, being excessively rank and fishy, the 

 birds, if domesticated and fed on proper food, 

 would soon lose this strong flavour. The common 



