THE



Bvtcultural ilfoagastne*


BEING THE JOURNAL OF THE


AVICULTURAL SOCIETY.



VOL. II.— NO. 23. All rights reserved. SEPTEMBER, 1896.



OUR BRITISH DUCKS.


By J. Bewis Bgnhote.


In the Avicultural Magazine for June, there appeared an

able article on the Anatidce, by Mr. D. Seth-Smith, with which I

was very much interested. There were, however, certain mem¬

bers of the family to whom, if my memory serves me right, he

made no allusion. I refer to those ducks which may be found in

or around the British Isles during most seasons of the year, and

I shall hope to point out one or two features of interest, which

might easily be studied by anyone keeping a few of these birds.

They are some of the most beautiful and brilliantly-coloured of

our indigenous birds, and are for the most part easily kept in

captivity, in which state many breed freely. Our British ducks

may be broadly divided into two classes, the surface-feeding

and the diving ducks. This latter class may easily be dis¬

tinguished by the presence of a web on the hind toe, and the

position of the legs, which are placed further back on the body

than is the case in the other class.


The chief requisite for keeping ducks in health is a pond,

which need not by any means be large or deep, though, of course,

the larger it is the better. The staple food for ducks of any kind

is meal and a little soaked grain ; in addition to this the Diving

Ducks must have a little chopped fish or frogs frequently, if they

are to be kept in really good health. I am, of course, supposing

that the owner has had to make his own pond; if, however, he

have a fair-sized natural one containing plenty of small fish the

ducks will help themselves.


The easiest ducks to keep, however, and those which I

should especially recommend to the aviculturist, are the Surface¬

feeding Ducks, of which we have eight species in Britain, namely.

Sheldrake, Mallard, Gadwall, Shoveller, Pintail, Teal, Garganey,

and Widgeon.


From an aviculturist’s point of view, these birds are



