8 ORNAMENTAL WATERFOWL. 
undisturbed, might possibly also nest there. The island must 
be anchored to the bottom by a chain and iron weights, or by 
a tarred rope tied to heavy stones, otherwise it will float about 
at the mercy of the winds and tide. 
Flowering rushes, flags, water-lilies, and other aquatic 
herbage should be encouraged to grow round the edges of 
the pond, furnishing natural shelter for the birds which find 
an abundance of small insects and mollusce among the 
succulent green leaves. 
In winter it will be found desirable to remove the more 
delicate varieties of birds to warmer quarters. About the 
middle of October, especially if it be a cold season, many of 
the tender ducks, particularly if newly imported, begin to look 
miserable, standing shivering on one leg, uttering peevish cries, 
while the feet and bill lose their colour and look perceptibly 
paler. These symptons should not be neglected, being the 
possible precursors of consumpton or dysentery; complaints 
which often prove fatal to waterfowl recently imported from 
warmer climates. I usually drive all my birds into a galvanized 
iron shed with large glass windows, likewise furnished with a 
strong door and extra inside panels of wire netting, so that air 
may be admitted or excluded, as occasion demands. The floor 
is of cement, sloping to the door, the upper part furnished 
with a low sparred bench, thickly covered with straw, upon 
which the ducks rest, their bed being renewed daily. 
Round their house is an enclosure containing grass and 
gravel, where is likewise to be found the cement-tank, supplied 
by the rain water from the house, described in the previous 
paragraph. 
Where ducks have to be kept in a confined space, the 
utmost cleanliness will be necessary, and care must be taken 
that where water is supplied by artificial means, such as the 
