RANKIN'S DUCK BOOK 



would be difficult- to find one Of jthe abQve*mentiohed vermin 

 one-fourth of a tffiie from the* piice. It was a 'great relief; 

 our ducklings could range at will, even be left out during trie 

 night, and still the full complement appear at the dough- 

 troughs in the morning. 



Do Not Have Neighbors Too Near 

 Another source of discomfort was our neighbors' cats. 

 Now, we are eminently social in our disposition, and enjoy 

 our neighbors' company very much. We like to spend a 

 social evening with them and have them do the same by us. 

 But not so their cats. We never interchanged civilities with 

 them, their visits were too ill timed and frequent. Our duck- 

 lings were carried off in large numbers, and in pure self- 

 defense we shot the cats. • 



Of course, this made trouble in our neighbors' families, 

 especially the female portion, by whom it was promptly re- 

 sented. The principle of "touch my dog, touch me," was illus- 

 trated here in all its force. No amount of provocation ever 

 justified us in their eyes in killing their cats. With pater 

 familias it was different. His affections were not engaged. 

 He recognized the necessity of the thing, laughed it off, and 

 said it was all right. Now, cats breed fast and are very pro- 

 lific, and our neighbors were plenty, and we are unwilling to 



CAYUGA DUCKS 



state the amount of our losses from those sources, for fear our 

 veracity would be doubted. We endured this sort of annoy- 

 ance for some twelve years, but made up our minds that if 



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