HAMLYN'S MENAGERIE MAGAZINE. 
79 
there was quoted an account from a local news- 
paper of a strain of these ducks in the hands of 
a farmer, which produced extraordinarily large 
broods; hatches of seventeen and eighteen being 
described as common, while one "old veteran" 
had brought off twenty-one ! It is obvious that 
there are some good laying Muscovies to be 
found, and so it was not surprising to read in 
subsequent issues of the paper that Tn Australia 
Muscovy Ducks were kept for laying (in spite 
of the presence out there of Indian Runner Ducks 
and Leghorn Fowls), so that our countrymen 
"down under" have been carrying out their motto 
of "Advance Australia" even in such a little out- 
of-the-way department as the breeding of Mus- 
covy Ducks. When these birds are taken up as 
layers here, we may expect to see some liveliness 
introduced by their competition with high-laying 
common ducks and with fowls. Meanwhile they 
offer a way out of the difficulty which a corres- 
pondent of "The Poultry World" stated the other 
day. He wanted, it seems, "to have it both 
ways," and farm ducks that would lay well and 
be saleable for table. He was told that he had 
better specialize on table ducks rather than try 
to make a small-bodied laying breed serve both 
purposes, his ambition being "almost impossi- 
ble" of achievement. 
The Muscovy Duck,- however, prevents it 
from being quite impossible, for by crossing the 
drake of this species with ducks of the common 
kind, you can raise large birds — which have the 
superior flavour of the common duck — from quite 
small stock. Although the common ducks of 
India are not "Runners," which come from the 
countries much further east, they are not bigger 
than those birds, and yet I have killed hybrids 
between these small ducks and the Muscovy 
which weighed over six pounds each, drake and 
duck, and they had simply foraged for their food 
on and about a large pond without getting any 
regular feeding, Hume, in his "Game Birds of 
India," also says that in the Straits Settlements 
people make a practice of rearing these hybrids 
for the table, and it is also done in some parts 
of France, where these "mule" ducks are known 
as "Mullards" — a combination of "mulet" and 
"mulart," I suppose. 
Although laying and pairing freely, these 
hybrids are barren; their eggs are green, but of a 
different shade from those of the common duck; 
the eggs of the Muscovy are white. They are, 
it m ust be remembered, more apt to fly than even 
the pure Muscovy, which they resemble in shape, 
though rather favouring the common duck in 
colour. 
The reverse cross — Muscovy duck and com- 
mon drake — is much less well known, but more 
resembles the common duck in shape, differing, 
however, in the size of the sexes somewhat as in 
the Muscovy duck. This is a disadvantage when 
the birds are being reared for table, but by mak- 
ing the cross in this way one gets the advantage 
of having the Muscovy ducks to sit on the eggs 
and rear the young, while one is spared the trouble 
of keeping the big, coarse, and often ill-behaved, 
Muscovy drake. He, for his part, is ready enough 
to "take up with" common ducks, but his mate 
is not inclined to tolerate the advances of the or- 
dinary drake unless she has been accustomed to 
him when young; for, whatever poultry-book 
writers think — and they all seem to make a point 
of either ignoring or abusing Muscovies — the 
birds themselves think they are superior to the 
common kind ! 
It is this continued abuse, no doubt, which 
has led to the relegation of such a useful bird to 
the background; Lewis Wright, in his justly- 
celebrated poultry-book, was in the forefront of 
the attack; but he could not have known much 
about these birds, as he describes the plumage 
as looking as if half the feathers had been moulted 
and the other half were ready to fall out. I never 
saw a specimen like this myself, and with their 
rich contrasts of green-black and white, and bare 
scarlet faces, these birds are considered by most 
people ornamental, in spite of their heavy make 
and lazy habits. The bare face, by the way, 
though a most striking point in the species, and 
a very useful one, enabling the veriest beginner 
in poultry to recognise it immediately, is not 
developed till some time after the birds are full- 
fledged, though their long broad tails and erectile 
crests will always distinguish them from black- 
and-white varieties of the common duck. When 
a duck's "hair stands on end" when it is alarmed, 
you may know it for a Muscovy. It must be re- 
membered that they have no relationship to the 
ordinary ducks beyond the fact of both belonging 
to the same family of birds, but are a distinct 
species, like the wigeon or the sheldrake. 
Thus it is not surprising that they have such 
different habits in some ways; and it is these 
peculiarities that draw down upon them the abuse 
of "experts," just as the goat is always abused 
because it is not a sheep, and the donkey because 
it is not a horse ! Muscovy ducks have their 
faults, of course; the drake is sometimes savage, 
as in the case of one which Wright records as 
bullying a Dorking cock, and in that case his 
strength makes him formidable, as also when 
he takes to irregular love-making, a vice from 
which the common drake, after all, is by no means 
free. 
Also the power of flight and instinct 1 of nest- 
ing high up may cause disappointment if the 
duck "steals her nest" somewhere hp in a roof 
or a hollow tree, when eggs are not easily col- 
lected; but, of course, a clipped wing puts a stop 
to this. Old birds — and Muscovy ducks arc long 
lived — are also extraordinarily tough; but eo one 
need eat an old one, as the age is so readily indi- 
