146 PROPAGATION OF WILD BIRDS 



in this way. They are fed in a covered wire enclosure, to 

 which at call they come trooping in, and they can be shut 

 up if desired. In winter they are driven into a shed at night. 

 As many as are needed for breeders have their wings chpped. 

 Otherwise the ducks would pair off and mostly breed in the 

 wild state in the vicinity, if the conditions were favourable 

 and the food sufficient. 



Wood ducks do well by this plan, being naturally docile 

 and hardy. They fly about in the woods and swamps, but 

 return to the regular feeding place. Dr. John C. Phillips, 

 of Wenham, Massachusetts, says that his wood ducks seem 

 to lose aU migratory inclination, and stay on his place the 

 year round. Obviously such birds perish in winter if not fed. 



On the Walcott estate the wood ducks, raised in confine- 

 ment and allowed to fly, migrate but return and nest in 

 boxes put up for them along the shores of a lake. It is quite 

 an idea that just as we can have bluebirds and wrens in our 

 bird-houses, so we can have wild ducks. Moreover, we can 

 regulate the supply of wild ducks at pleasure, while with the 

 song-birds other factors largely control the supply. 



On this estate young black ducks and mallards were 

 also liberated. The birds were not banded, and it was not 

 possible to recognize individual birds. Some left during the 

 worst of the winter. It was obvious that many of them re- 

 turned, perhaps with other wild birds, for the number that 

 returned was said nearly to equal those that had left, and a 

 considerable number nested in freedom on the estate, some 

 resorting to the wire enclosures. It is evidently possible to 

 establish wild ducks breeding permanently in a locality by 

 such methods. 



Wood Ducks on Walcott Preserve. That wood ducks 

 breeding in the wild state are now established in numbers on 

 the Walcott preserve in Norfolk, Cormecticut, after only 



