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Ducks Nesting at Dereham.



DUCKS NESTING AT DEREHAM.


By Hugh Wormald.


This has been on the whole a good nesting season here, but

there have been too many infertile eggs in some species ; a complaint-

common among several of my friends who keep ducks, and I am

quite at a loss to account for the failure of many of the eggs, though

I believe that in Cinnamon Teal eggs, which have hatched in¬

differently, the trouble is inbreeding' in the parents, there never

seem to be any wild caught Cinnamons on the market. But from

two pairs of the nearly-allied Blue-winged Teal I have had a won¬

derfully good percentage of fertility, every egg in the first nest of

each pair was fertile, and only two failed to hatch, the second nests

were also very good ; the last lot of ducklings for the year hatched

this morning (July 23rd', these were a late nest of Bluewings,

augmented by one horrid looking egg which I found in a nest box

up a tree on June 15th, and which I did not set for over a week as

I had no others to go with it at the time, and also because I had no

hope of it hatching, since it had a deformed shell, rather crinkled

and discoloured in patches and very pointed at both ends, yet to

my amazement a beautiful little Binged Teal emerged from it. This

was the only egg which the Binged Teal laid to my knowledge, she

probably dropped the rest of her clutch in the water.


I am not aware that Binged Teal have nested previously in

this country, though they appear to breed freely on the Continent.

Next year I hope to get a full clutch from them. Other interesting

hatchings have been a silvery grey Shoveller, which unfortunately

died when ten days old, and a pure white American Wigeon with

normal eyes, which is at present doing very well and should be

reared bar accidents.


Mr. Alec. Duncan kindly sent me nine White-faced Tree

Ducks’ eggs, from a pair which nested with him in 1912 and 1913,

but he failed to rear the young, so this year he asked me to try. All

the eggs hatched, and seven are at present doing well, they are

nearly a fortnight old but look rather delicate little things and

grow slower than most ducks, but I hope to rear some of them.


Altogether twenty-one species have nested with me this year,



