DUCK DOLLARS 37 
A drake is generally larger than the duck, but not always. 
; The best and quickest way to distinguish the sex of a bird is to pick 
it up by the neck and listen to the noise which it : 
immediately makes. When we are examining a pen of How'ta Dis; 
them rapidly, we never take time to look for the curled Anguish Sex 
tail feather. We pick each up by the neck, one after the other, and listen 
to the note, or noise, made by each, the decision being made instantly. 
Ducks will lay eggs, but not fertile eggs unless they have had inter- 
course with a drake. We have known a beginner to run an incubator 
the specified time, filled with eggs laid by ducks with 
which no drake was allowed to run; result, no ducklings 
from said eggs, which was quite a puzzle to the beginner 
until he thought the matter over. Some people have no imagination, 
or take everything for granted, or are actually ignorant about the simplest 
things. Given a duck’s egg, it does not follow that the egg is fertile. 
The beginner should be sure that the eggs which he puts into the incu- 
bator come from ducks which have received the attentions of drakes. 
It is not uncommon for incubator experimenters to fill up the machine 
with eggs bought at a grocery store. These beginners do not know, 
nor do they seem to care, whether eggs have been fertilized or not. 
The duck in love-making makes the first move by bowing her head 
low; then the drake bows his head low. They bow faster and faster; 
the duck squats and permits the drake to mount her. 
He seizes her with his bill by the back of her head, wear- 
ing the feathers off as the season progresses. Connec- 
tion being quickly performed, the drake drops, or falls, from the duck, 
and bolts away from her five or six feet, then stops. 
When you see the ducks and drakes bowing to each other, this is 
the sign that they wish to pair, and will, then or soon. 
The first active period of heat comes on when the duck or drake is 
about five months old. In excessive heat, and without drakes, ducks 
sometimes will mount each other, acting like two cows, or two female 
rabbits. Do not be led astray in the matter of sex by observing such 
actions. 
One service of drake to duck will fertilize a dozen eggs. One drake 
will attend five ducks. Twenty-five ducks to five drakes . 
z 4 The Right 
is the most successful proportion, no more. Z 
Drakes have no preference for a certain duck in Ereporton 
their love affairs. As a rule, they do not quarrel among themselves over 
a duck or ducks, or interfere with one another. Sometimes all the drakes 
in a pen except one will annoy or persecute that one. He seems to 
make all the rest jealous or irritable unanimously, and they unite to pre- 
vent him from paying attention to any duck in the pen. Such a drake 
should be removed from the pen, as the others will make his life mis- 
erable. 
The drakes are strong, and one can force a duck to have connection 
against her will. This is not true of most animals. It is best not to 
interfere with him. At first, the ducks will invite him; The Drakes 
as the period goes on, they will not. The drakes act in ik 
: : re Strong 
a bold, aggressive manner all the time except when they 
Fertilization 
Necessary 
Ducks 
Pairing 
