RAISING DUCKs. 233 
rapidly and fattens easily. The common tame duck is 
supposed to have descended from the wild Mallard duck, 
Anas boshas, common to this country and Europe. It 
breeds freely with this species, and also with several 
other species of wild duck ; in some cases the progeny 
is capable of reproduction of its kind, in others mule- 
birds or ‘‘mongrels” result. The fact that a very dif- 
ferent class of birds is produced where the Mallards are 
crossed with other species and where the common duck 
is so crossed, with other points of difference, throws 
some doubt on the assertion that the Mallard is the 
parent of our common ducks. Besides, efforts to domes- 
ticate the Mallard have not been successful as a general 
thing. We have, however, many wild ducks capable of 
domestication, and the experiment ought to be well 
tried with all, for thus our stock of domestic poultry 
may be essentially increased and improved. 
The Rouen breed is the most highly esteemed of all 
domestic ducks by many duck breeders. Its habits are 
quiet, and so it does not wander about and get lost, as 
ducks do. Itattains a great weight, and is unsurpassed 
asa layer. An English writer reports that he has fre- 
quently known a pair of young drakes 9 or 10 weeks old 
to weigh 121bs. Sundry writers report very remarkable 
laying performances of the Rouen ducks. One laid an 
egg a day for 85 days; three ducks from February to 
July laid 334 eggs, besides a few soft ones and five double 
eggs. One of these laid every morning for 92 days. 
The young ducks often lay in autumn a good clutch of 
eggs, and it not unfrequently occurs that a duck which 
is a first-rate layer will manifest no tendency to sit. 
This variety of ducks has, in common with many other 
kinds, great beauty of plumage, which varies somewhat 
in different individuals. The drakes are heavier than 
the ducks, but the difference is slight in comparison 
with the disparity between the sexes in most varieties, 
