POULTEY. 121 



Indian file (an instinctive habit still retained), and thus return at even- 

 ing to their dormitory, or emerge from it to the edge of the pond or 

 sheet of water, over which they scatter themselves ; thus also they come 

 to the call of their feeder. 



Ducks should always have a lodging-place of their own ; they should 

 be separated from fowls, and never housed beneath their perches ; yet 

 where fowls are kept, a little contrivance would suffice to make them a 

 comfortable berth in a fowl house. In winter, a thin bedding of straw, 

 rushes, or fern-leaves, should be placed on the floor of their dormitory, 

 and changed frequently. More than four or five females should not be 

 allowed to a single drake. The duck lays a great many eggs in the 

 season ; there are instances in which one has laid as many as eighty- 

 five eggs ; but these cases are rare ; the female will cover with comfort 

 twelve or fourteen, and in most cases is a steady sitter. When she in- 

 clines to sit, give her a plentiful nest, with some broken straw or hay 

 near at hand, with which to cover the eggs when she leaves them ;• as 

 nature instructs her to use this precaution, no doubt it is best to give 

 her the opportunity. Let her be supplied with food and water directly 

 she leaves her nest; and if she choose to take a bath it will do no harm. 

 It is common to put ducks' eggs under hens, and it is ludicrous, though 

 soraewhat painful, to see the trepidation and anxiety of the foster-mother 

 on the edge of a pond, into which the young ducks have plunged, re 

 gardless of her feelings and incessant clucking, a language they do not 

 understand. At what age young wild ducks are taken by their parents 

 into the water we cannot say; but this is certain, that if young tame 

 ducks visit the water too early^ they are very apt to become cramped and 

 perish. If very young ducklings once become saturated with water, they 

 invariably perish; they are in this respect as tender as young turkeys. 

 Ducks, although they float on the water, never become wet (that is, 

 when properly fledged), for their plumage throws off the fluid, and they 

 return dry from the pond ; but ducklings, while yet in the down, get 

 wet, and should therefore have sparing access to water until the feathers 

 supply the place of the early down. Young ducks are easily reared, 

 being fed on meal mixed with potatoes and green meat boiled ; they 

 are useful in gardens, which they clear of slugs and snails, without in- 

 juring the crops of vegetables. As a caution, we would here observe, 

 that the ponds to which they are allowed access should contain neither 

 pike nor eels ; and rats should be extirpated. Rats and weasels often 

 thin flocks of ducklings, to the great loss and vexation of their owner. 



The Varieties of the Domestic Duck, are the White Aylesbury, large, 

 plumage perfectly white,- feet yellow, and a flesh-colored bill. This is 

 one of the best varieties.- The Routn duck, a large dark-colored varie- 

 ty, is also highly esteemed. The Hook-billed, remarkable for the pecu- 

 liar form of its beak. The Penguin duck, which walks, or waddles in 

 an upright position, like the pBnguin ; the Musk duck, so termed from 

 the strong scent of musk which its skin exhales. This duck is of large 

 size, and its plumage of a glossy blue-black. The East Indian, or 

 Buenos Ayres duck, is a small and very beautiful variety, black, with a 

 brilliant metallic luster on the feathers. These,- and the various colored 

 fc.fU-ducks, are highly ornamentatl. . 



p 



