THE POULTRY-YARD. 289 



not give much trouble to catch, and which 

 promises to acquire a considerable bulk in a 

 short time. Not only does the farmer care 

 absolutely nothing for quickness of wit in his 

 ducks, but he regards activity on the wing 

 and a disposition to roam far from the home- 

 stead as most undesirable qualities. When I 

 was a boy the common ducks found in many 

 Sussex farmyards belonged to a small black 

 variety which in habits showed near kinship 

 to the wild duck. Now, however, one finds 

 that these active, self-reliant birds have been 

 supplanted on nearly all farms by tubby, 

 lymphatic imbeciles known as Aylesburys. 

 Each generation born in captivity tends to 

 show a greater proportion of the more stupid 

 or unwieldy young birds which, under natural 

 conditions, would be instantly weeded out. 

 Owing to the above facts, I do not think 

 that, in accounting for the differences between 

 young tame ducks and wild ones, we need 

 suppose that confidence in man, or any other 

 peculiarities acquired by the birds during their 

 lifetime, are directly transmitted. 



This confidence in man, as was stated in 

 an earlier part of the chapter, has had a re- 



T 



