Stray Notes on the Keeping of Waterfowl. 259


provided ample green food (such as cabbage in winter and lettuces

or lawn mown grass in summer) is given, together with sufficient

corn and gravel and grit and old lime is provided, the birds will

thrive well enough as long as the water is fresh. On the other

hand, if one wants nests, then the trouble begins.


Duck will not court and nest freely if they have a crowded

water area, even though the surroundings may be good for nesting'

purposes. I have noted that nothing puts a pair off courtship more

than being worried by other birds. Again, in Spring time some

species are much more pugnacious than others and trouble is often

caused by a male driving all other birds away from the water near

where his mate is thinking of nesting even. I am convinced that

prolonged fighting and disturbance, means eggs dropped in the water

and no nest.


If the facilities exist for it, I would prefer to pen up birds of

a species and give ample nesting room, even though a smaller water

area were given during the nesting season.


It would appear that to ensure success in getting one’s ducks

to lay, three things are necessary.


1. To have hand-reared stock.


2. Not too many birds on the water.


3. Avoid looking too often to see if they are nesting.


This last is one of the hardest things to avoid doing—and it

is really needless, as if the ducks are carefully observed early in the

morning, it will be found that most of them lay between 6 a.m. and

8 a.m., and by watching the water, you see what females are off and

probably see from what direction they come back on ; where you

see a female come on and be at once joined by her mate, you may

be sure she is laying.


If you later miss her off the water during the day, it is fair

to assume she has started to sit, and one can then look for and take

the nest if desired.


There is no accounting for the tastes of Ducks—some sites

are always in request for nests, others, which look to the human eye

better or identical, are never looked at. This year a Mandarin laid

in one of five boxes, all identical and three of which faced the same



