ORNAMENTAL WATERFOWL. 3 
when the greater portion, especially the part near the water 
tank, is tiled or bricked, which is thus easily washed down, and 
obviates the unsightly appearance of bare earth reduced to mud 
by the constant paddling of the birds. 
In most cases there will probably be at the disposal of 
the waterfowl fancier a small enclosure, where grass and gravel 
may be rendered accessible to the birds, conditions which are 
naturally much more conducive to their welfare than those 
which are attached to the restricted areas alluded to above. 
Where the fancier has a choice of locality there will not 
be much difficulty in settling the important question of housing 
the birds. As a rule, where it is intended to keep numerous 
varieties with a view to breeding, it is indispensable to give 
the birds full liberty during the spring and summer upon a 
small pond or moat. 
My own ducks of the smaller kinds are turned upon a 
moat, 130 ft. long by 40 ft. broad, one end of which is fringed 
with flowering rushes, and partly overhung in places by laurel 
bushes, elders, and sycamore trees. The soil is clay, and the 
banks are turfed on each side. These banks are somewhat 
precipitous at one end, having a drop of from 2 ft. to 4 ft. 
from the edge to the level of the water. The water is about 
five feet deep in the centre, decreasing to about two at the 
lower end. The sun shines, during the greater part of the 
day, on the south and west banks, which comprise a strip of 
grass 50 ft. long by 6 ft. wide, a considerable portion being 
shaded by bushes. On this space the coops or houses for the 
ducks are placed. As the birds only inhabit this run during 
the warm weather, I found it sufficient to make the houses of 
light wood one board thick, with the outside painted and the 
inside thoroughly whitewashed, containing of course no other 
furniture than a bed of straw. 
