DOMESTIC FOWL 83 



the Indian runner. Since Darwin's time many 

 otter breeds have been added to the list. 



By far the most important of all the varieties 

 and strains is the Pekin. Although outranked in 

 parts of Europe by the Rouen and the Aylesbury, 

 it is the commercial duck of the United States. 

 Millions are consumed here and large numbers 

 are produced. Iowa alone, in 1920, reared nearly 

 a quarter of a million. 



Large duck plants generally are situated near 

 a body of water, — a stream, lake, or bay, — al- 

 though this is not an absolute necessity. The 

 birds begin to lay in December or January and con- 

 tinue until June. The ducklings are hatched in 

 large incubators and marketed when from nine to 

 twelve weeks old. The average plant with one 

 or two thousand breeders will produce from 

 twenty to forty thousand young ducks. As many 

 as ninety thousand, however, have been sold from 

 one ranch in a single season. 



9 



The Guinea-Fowl 



Not quite so popular as the duck is the guinea- 

 fowl. A native of West Africa, it has been un- 

 der domestication from the time of the Pheni- 

 cians; but in all these thousands of years it has 

 scarcely altered one tithe from the original form. 

 Unlike other domestic birds it has never lost its 



