i250 - PROFITABLE POULTRY PRODUCTION 



use they are fully as valuable as either of the otlieP ' 

 varieties mentioned. 



The Muscovy, in two varieties, Colored and 

 White, is a particularly unpleasant looking creature 

 because of its featherless face covered with warty 

 skin. This repulsive appearance is more than 

 borne out by the viciousness of the males. The 

 ducks are perhaps as pugnacious as the drakes 

 when they have their broods. Adult drakes weigh 

 10 pounds ; ducks 8. Prior to the importation of 

 the Pekin, the Muscovy was popular among the 

 commercial duck growers, but its poor-laying abil- 

 ity, its viciousness and its color all being against it, 

 made it easy for the Pekin to replace it. 



' Besides these four principal ducks there are many 

 others, but almost all are much lighter weight. 

 Among them are the Cayuga, which is a hardy, 

 early maturing, good layer, with greenish-black 

 plumage and flight feathers in the female, some- 

 times more or less brown. 



Indian Runner is another small variety introduced 

 within recent years. The drakes rarely weigh more 



■ than 5 pounds and the ducks 4. They are usually 

 light fawn colored, sometimes grayish. Their chief 

 value is in their prolificacy. They have been 

 called the Leghorns of the duck family. It is 

 said they are more home loving than most other 

 breeds. 



Besides these varieties, there are several others, 

 among them the Buff Orpington, a variety of recent 

 origin and little known in this country. It hails 

 from England. Gray and White Call Ducks, 

 Black East Indian ducks and Crested White ducks 

 are all little varieties raised particularlj- for orna- 

 ment. 



