WILD DUCKS I3S 



no doubt, many species, particularly of the "river ducks," 

 could be domesticated like the mallard. In case of some 

 species, as has been done in Europe, such stock could be 

 started from wild eggs under legal regulation. Some kinds, 

 however, nest in rather inaccessible northern wilds. 



Wild vs. Hand-reared. An illustration of the difference 

 in willingness to breed between adult ducks captured wild 

 and young of the same kind reared by hand is the following: 

 A single female pintail was hatched by E. H. Austin from a 

 setting which I sent him by express from the Northwest to 

 New Milford, Connecticut. This duckling became the 

 mascot of the farm, flying around at liberty, yet running 

 after her master Hke a dog, and never thinking of leaving. 

 He got a mate for her the next spring, which hurt its leg and 

 went lame. The duck made a nest in the grass near the 

 house and laid six eggs, which proved to be infertile. Adult 

 pintails captured wild, on the other hand, though they have 

 in time bred in captivity, have to be managed very carefully. 

 Under the above barnyard conditions their breeding would 

 have been inconceivable. 



Immediate Problem. The more usual facilities, however, 

 are through breeding captured wild stock, which can gen- 

 erally be obtained from dealers. The immediate problem, 

 therefore, is so to handle and feed such stock that fertile 

 eggs can be secured. Though wild captured birds do not 

 breed readily, in many cases, through care and patience 

 they have been mad^ to do so. Probably all our "river 

 ducks" have been thus bred on a small scale. The marine 

 ducks present a harder problem, but the redhead and scaup 

 have been bred in this country, and the related pochard, 

 the tufted duck, the eider, according to Mr. Walcott, and 

 perhaps others, have been raised abroad. No one as yet 

 seems to have bred the canvasback, but, since it is so similar 



