HAMLYN'S MENAGERIE MAGAZINE. 
47 
FUTURE OF THE MUSCOVY DUCK. 
By F. Finn, B.A., F.Z.S. 
What price a breed of poultry which makes 
no noise, lays well, and yet produces male birds 
of 'fine table size, does not scratch, is a good 
mother, and will live and breed well anywhere, 
either in close confinement or at large? Such a 
bird, you will say, if you know anything about 
poultry, does not exist — we only wish it did ! We 
all know what fowls and ordinary ducks can do 
in the matter of noise, though in the one case 
it is practically only the male, and in the other 
the female, that is the nuisance; for the wheezing 
note of the drake is nothing to object to, and hens, 
without a cock to lead the chorus, do very little 
in the way of cackling. Still, hens will scratch 
at all times, and cannot be kept in good condition 
in close confinement without scratching exercise; 
and ducks, confined in a small space without a 
pond, soon get sore-eyed, fat, and draggled, and 
make their surroundings smelly and sloppy. 
Moreover, the best laying breeds, the Leghorn 
fowls and Indian Runner ducks, are small in 
size, a point which weighs seriously against them 
when one considers half the young one rears 
are certain to be smalls, only useful tlo eat. 
Moreover, they will not rear their own young. 
Yet there is a bird which apparently possesses 
all the qualities I mentioned at the start, and 
that one which is neither rare nor expensive — 
the Muscovy Duck. This bird is, as nearly as 
possible, mute; the drake only hisses and puffs, 
and the duck only quacks under great excitement 
or fear, and then a single weak exclamation re- 
lieves her emotions. 
The female bird is about the size of a Runner 
Duck, though of very different build, being long- 
tailed, low-set, and of horizontal carriage; the 
male, on the other hand, is twice as large, and 
in fact grows as big as a small goose, just the 
fdeal size for a table bird for a big family. It is 
quite true that the meat is not so good as that 
of the common duck, being less rich in flavour; 
but it is as good as goose, and the bird does not 
lay on fat like a goose, even when kept in close 
confinement, so that the greasiness so many 
people object to in the goose, and in large com- 
mon ducks for that matter, is not here present 
as a drawback. Being ducks, Muscovies, of 
course, do> not scratch; and they have the pecu- 
liarity, unique among poultry, in keeping well 
and in good breeding condition anywhere, even 
in the closest confinement, for thev do not care 
for exercise, and can do well without if, without 
getting fat, although being constitutionally lazy. 
If there is water, they will make use of it in the 
ordinary way, though less freely than common 
ducks, if there is no pond, they will keep healthy 
with only drinking water, and never seem to miss 
a swim, while they do not make their surroundings 
smelly and sloppy as common clucks do. 
The ducks are most admirable sitters and 
mothers; with them, there is no straggling 
around of ducklings to be chilled or devoured by 
vermin. The Muscovy's ducklings keep close 
to her; she takes them for a swim and then 
comes ashore and broods them, and she is a brave 
and powerful bird, so good a guardian to her 
brood that, in years of breeding these birds at 
the Zoo, they have never lost a duckling by rats 
or by the carrion-crows which patrol London in 
the grey of the morning, seeking what they may 
devour. The ducklings are also, in themselves, 
exceedingly hardy; in spite of the care the mother 
takes of them, they can dispense with her just 
as soon as* other ducklings can, and I have even 
known a single one reared in an aviary from a 
few days old which had no mother at all. The 
owner said he did not even take it in at night, 
for there was a rockery in the aviary to which 
it retired, and he "could not catch the little 
devil." 
The pens in which these birds have been bred 
for years past at the Zoo are between the Lions' 
and the Wolves' dens, and are each only about 
half-a-dozen yards square, though grassed and 
provided with small round ponds. Broods have 
numbered from half-a-dozen to twice that number, 
and when the ducklings have been taken away 
while still in the down, the duck has shortly after 
laid and sat again and reared another brood. 
There has been no> shelter given, except small 
kennels in which the birds laid, and in one case 
I noted the old duck always carefully took her 
brood into the little house to pass the night; no 
doubt this was usually done. Such nesting ac- 
commodation is all the housing these birds need, 
and they can do even without that, for the breed- 
ing female the Zoo has at present nests under 
the low-growing branches of a holly in the pen. 
In Zanzibar I have seen Muscovy Ducks with 
their broods going about the streets, and as there 
was m> water handy, they were evidently dis- 
pensing with a pond even in that tropical climate. 
Such a climate is, indeed, natural to these ducks, 
though they are so hardy here, for their real home 
is the hot parts of America, where they roost and 
nest in trees, which accounts for the surprising 
habit these lazy birds have of flying up and perch- 
ing on fences and roofs. This habit has, of 
course, to be borne in mind, when birds are newly 
introduced to a place or show a desire to* escape; 
but all that is needed is to clip the long quills of 
one wing, when the usual low fences used for 
ducks will keep them in. On the other hand, in 
situations where they are liable to attack by 
thieves, dogs or foxes, their powers of flight are 
very much in their favour, and it is astonishing 
to see what vigorous wing-power even the great 
heavy drake will display when 'his liberty is 
menaced. 
(To be continued.) 
