2 ORNAMENTAL WATERFOWL. 
shopkeepers, who arrange small ponds and artificial tanks 
in their little gardens, where they may keep half a dozen 
pairs of small ornamental ducks, finding among their pets 
a pleasant diversion after business hours, and a profitable 
sale for the young birds, at prices varying from 30 to 160 
francs a couple. 
I am acquainted with one amateur who yearly offers 
for sale young birds of his own breeding, not only from 
Carolinas, Mandarins, Spotted bills, Bahamas, ‘“ Paradise” 
ducks, Indian Pochards, but from the shy Sheldrake, White-eyed 
Nyroca, Rosy-billed ducks, three or four different sorts of 
Teal; and from geese of several kinds, including the rarer 
Magellanic, Sandwich Island, and Maned Bernicles. 
Hundreds of young Mandarins and Carolinas may be 
bought during the autumn months at from 25 to 35 francs per 
pair, in Belgium, and the North of France, while the English 
supply is mainly restricted to our large dealers and a few 
fanciers who breed for exhibition. Why should this be so? 
How many persons are there not to whom the acquisition of 
a pair of Mandarins, Carolinas, or other ornamental ducks would 
open out a new vista of interest and delight! A pair of 
Mandarins will live happily, and even breed, if kept clean, in 
a wire enclosure 6 ft. square, and I have heard of their doing 
so in a coop with a boarded floor only half that size, and with 
no other water than that contained in a wooden tub! Many 
amateurs are deterred from keeping ducks by the belief 
that they require a large run, and a considerable amount 
of water in order to prosper, instead of which the success 
of our continental friends proves that as a matter of fact 
it is easier to house ducks in a confined space than 
to keep poultry under the same conditions. The floor of a 
duck run, if very limited in extent, is more easily kept clean 
