TYPES AND BREEDS OF DUCKS 



439 



Common domestic ducks. Our common ducks, sometimes called 

 " puddle ducks," are a type analogous to the common fowls previous 

 to the introduction of improved stocks. It is rarely possible to de- 

 termine satisfactorily whether any particular stock of ducks of this 

 type now seen is of the mongrel stock which has been distributed 

 throughout Europe from very early times or whether it has degen- 

 erated from stock improved within the last fifty or sixty years. 

 Twenty-five or 

 thirty years 

 ago most of 

 the common 

 ducks were un- 

 doubtedly free 

 from the influ- 

 ence of im- 

 proved stocks. 

 These ducks 

 were of various 

 colors, about 

 half the size of 

 the Pekin and 

 Rouen, slow of 

 growth, gener- 

 ally inferior as 

 layers, and of 

 but litde com- 

 mercial impor- 

 tance. So far as known, no effort was made to improve them in 

 America ; in Europe a number of breeds were developed. 



Improved races of ducks. Improved stocks of ducks are of 

 three general types, — the meat type, the laying type, and the 

 ornamental type. 



Meat types. As most numerous, of most importance, and also 

 best showing the evolution of types, the table types of ducks are 

 considered first. The races of this type are the Rouen, Aylesbury, 

 Cayuga, Blue Swedish, Blue Termonde, Pekin, and Muscovy. 



The Rouen Duck. The Rouen Duck bears much the same rela- 

 tion to the wild Mallard as the Dorking and Houdan fowls to the 



Fig. 467. Rouen Ducks. Brook View Farm, Newbury, 

 Massachusetts 



