on the Summer or Carolina Duck. 93


sunny pens under cover; for the first fortnight they are very

delicate, and should not be allowed to get wet; care should also

be taken to see that they feed well, egg-and-bread-crumbs, dried

ants’ eggs, duckweed, and chopped calves’ lights being provided.

When well started they are very hardy, and as adults do as well

as any Ducks. As two Ducks may be run with one Drake, and

as several sets will live together or with Mandarins, it will be

seen that a large number of these birds can be reared with proper

attention, so they will more than pay their way, especially as

the}^ are now about ten shillings apiece dearer than Mandarins.


The climbing propensities of the young need to be guarded

against, and even the adults when pinioned will climb several

feet of wire-netting if they mean to get out of their enclosure,

though they are on the whole much more ready to keep within

bounds than Mandarins.


It is, I think, a great pity to pinion these beautiful birds

at all, since the operation disfigures them more than other Ducks,

owing to the fact that so much of the primaries is normally

visible. If they have to be kept in an enclosure it is better to

stretch netting over this and leave them the use of their wings,

putting up a few dead boughs as perches; while on a large piece

of water every attempt should be made, by breeding from the

tamest birds, to establish a homing strain.


In conclusion, I would urge those aviculturists who are in

a position to breed these birds to do what they can to save this

lovely species from the fate which awaits it. The market is now

entirely supplied by captive-bred birds : indeed, one of our lead¬

ing Waterfowl dealers told me some time back that, far from

getting any supplies from America, he would send birds there if

he could get them—none being then on sale. Now, I am glad

to say that the New Zealand Acclimatization Societies are bestir¬

ring themselves afresh in the matter of birds, and I recommend

any who care for the preservation of beautiful species to do all

in their power to facilitate, by exchanges, the introduction of the

Carolina into New Zealand, where it would have, as a species, a

new lease of life. The Mandarin is already there, though only as

a captive ornamental bird as yet; but it can be readily obtained



