54 ARTIFICIAL REARING OF WILD DUCKS 



tured. I fed these birds myself and also collected the 

 eggs daily. No one else was permitted to enter the 

 pen. The result was surprising. I obtained 119 eggs 

 between February 21 and June 1. I was most particu- 

 lar in giving the birds a flower pot full of worms each 

 day. On two different occasions three eggs were laid 

 in one day. An account of this extraordinary occur- 

 rence was sent to the Field (London), and it was 

 pointed out by me that it was impossible for other 

 birds to enter and lay in the pen and that the eggs were 

 collected on the days before and after the occurrence. 

 Further, the eggs were those of the t\fo birds men- 

 tioned, their shape and color exactly coinciding with 

 those previously laid. However, I do not advise con- 

 fining the birds in any way ; give them plenty of liberty 

 and the eggs will be fertile and the hatching percent- 

 age a high one." 



Elliot says the mallard breeding wild usually lays 

 only six eggs, and the reader will observe how much 

 more rapidly the wild ducks are increased in numbers 

 on the preserve than they are when breeding wild. One 

 or two hundred ducks should easily produce from two 

 to four thousand young birds, and even more if the 

 average of thirty-three, named by Captain Oates, should 

 be attained. 



The nests in the hatching boxes shown in the illus- 

 tration are made of a heavy sod from which the earth 

 has been partly removed in the middle so that it will 

 become concave when it is placed in the box. 



Oates says to use any square box of sufficient depth 

 and, having cut some pieces of sod, build up the cor- 

 ners of the box with them; then cut a square sod to fit 



