68



Mr. Herbert K. Job,



wildness. This notion may now be consigned to the scrap-heap.

These ducklings, of various kinds, hatched artificially, away from the

influence and teaching of the wild mother, have absolutely no fear of

man. Instead of fleeing from us, they simply would not get out of

the way, and we had to be very careful, in the runways, not to step

on them.


Of all the hungry creatures I ever saw, these took the prize.

The instant I appeared, an hour or more after any meal, they would

rush at me in a frantic mob, piping, struggling, jumping on one

another. If I reached out my hand to remove an empty water

fountain, they would almost eat me up ! When the two heaping

plates of food were placed oil the ground to divide the mob, they

simply hurled themselves at the dishes, each one gulping, gobbling,

shovelling, for all it was worth. One species is specially named

“ shoveller.” but, bless them, every one is a shoveller from the word

“go !” After about two or three mouthfuls, each duckling hustles to

get a drink and wash it down, sifting the water through its bill.

A quart of water did not last any time. It was necessary to use

drinking fountains to keep them from getting soaked, and even then

they got all too wet. We improvised small fountains for the smaller

ones with saucers and tin cans with holes cut in them.


The crucical question now was whether the food would

nourish the ducklings properly. The first week with that first

brood was an anxious one. Every day I was afraid that they

would begin to die off. In a few days one did die, and we held

an anxious post mortem. The others, though grew and flourished.

As the next broods hatched, we could see that the first had made

great gain in size. Another stage of the battle was won. In fact,

for all except the Kuddies and Scoters the food proved wholly suit¬

able. They all thrived on it, and there was not one single death

by indigestion or disease the whole trip.


The feeding system was as follows : The main staples were

raw oatmeal and a special wild duck meal. For nursery food we

began with three parts of oatmeal to one of duck meal, mixed with

barely enough water to moisten, not sloppy. Into this was mixed

also a moderate amount of coarse, sharp sand, not over ten per cent.

This, I believe, is absolutely essential for proper digestion. Also we



