64



Mr. Herbert K. Job



WILD DUCKS FROM AN INCUBATOR.


By Herbert K. Job,


State Ornithologist of Connecticut.


(By kind permission of the Outing Publishing Co.)


The Crucial Stage of the Manitoba Wild Duck Expedition

—Hatching, Rearing and Transporting the Ducklings.


Somehow it seemed as though the breezy, bracing atmosphere

of the wild Manitoba prairie, while it sparkled with exhilaration, was

tremulous also with interrogation. Everything that we were under¬

taking was new and without precedent. Questions and problems

confronted us on every hand. Perhaps we might fail. It was con¬

siderable of a load of responsibility.


One of the fundamental questions confronting us was whether

eggs could be safely transported, or whether it would be necessary to

try to hatch them and raise the young before starting back. In

either case there were uncertainties, so I had decided to try both

methods. During' the first few days of the hunt we found quite a

few ducks’ nests with fresh, incomplete sets, six eggs or less. The

normal full set is usually eight to eleven eggs, and occasionally there

are even more. I have found as many as twenty-two ! Picking up

now a few of these incomplete sets, I sent them on by express.

They were at once set, and before the trip was half over I knew the

result. Not a single one developed an embryo.


From previous investigation I knew it was hopeless to trans¬

port eggs in the earlier stages of incubation, as the jar was sure to

break the delicate blood-vessels. I had learned, though, that the

embryos within a few days of hatching could stand a good deal.

Mr. C. AVilliam Beebe, of the New York Zoological Park, had

brought incubated seabirds’ eggs from Virginia to New York, without

artificial heat, which had hatched normally on arrival. In case it

should prove expedient, I had thought to attempt transporting some

in lighted incubators on the cars, and had secured special permission

from the express companies.


An early incident of the expedition showed how much punish¬

ment incubated eggs would stand. On a driving trip, off exploring,

we found a set of thirteen Gadwalls’ eggs on an island, thirty miles

from camp. Wrapping them in a rubber-coated focus-cloth to retain



