90 



THE GAME BREEDER 



Artificial Duck Pond, Hand made. 



reckons you'll find he died of lead 

 poisoning." — Exchange. 



A Wild Duck Experiment. 



About the artificial pond shown in the 

 illustration over 3,000 wild duck eggs 

 were gathered one season. These eggs 

 were laid by 170 stock birds owned by 

 The Game Breeders' Association, then 

 located on Long Island, N. Y. Several 

 hundred eggs were sold at $25 per hun- 

 dred. A few hundred ducks were sold 

 at $3.25 per pair. The members of the 

 association had some good shooting and 

 bagged about half the ducks reared and 

 some visiting ducks for good measure. 

 From the eggs and a few live ducks sold 

 hundreds of wild ducks have been reared 

 in other States. Some of the breeders 

 who procured stock birds and eggs from 

 the association now sell both ducks and 

 eggs, and the ratio of increase from the 

 experiment will be geometrical. 



A sportsman whose shooting ground 

 is many miles away from the duck pond 

 shown in the illustration called at the 

 office of The Game Breeder to say that 

 he wished to express his thanks for 

 some ducks which came his way, evi- 

 dently from the breeding ground of the 

 association, since he had never shot any 

 mallards on his ground before the asso- 

 ciation was formed. 



The breeding pond shown in the illus- 



tration was dug by hand, a narrow cir- 

 cular ditch which the ducks soon en- 

 larged. Some wild ducks hatched from 

 the eggs laid beside this pond have since 

 been introduced about another pond 

 made by dynamite furnished by the 

 Du Pont Powder Company. 



Some of the young ducks are shown 

 in another illustration with their foster 

 mother, a hen, which often followed the 

 young ducks into the water, a most un- 

 usual performance. This excellent photo- 

 graph was made by Mr. Lane of The 

 Remington U. M. C. Co. 



Artificial Duck Ponds and the Use of 

 Dynamite. 



Some of the best breeding ponds for 

 wild ducks are artificial. A pond easily 

 can be made on wet ground where evi- 

 dently there is water a short distance 

 below the surface. Such a pond when 

 made in a wet meadow near and in sight 

 of the house has a great advantage, 

 since the ducks can be observed at all 

 times and they are safe from trespassers. 

 The eggs are easily gathered and trans- 

 ported to the hatching houses and coops. 

 Later the birds can be turned down on 

 the larger ponds where they will afford 

 good shooting. 



Those who have tried the Du Pont 

 dynamite in making their ponds report 

 that the work is quickly and easily done 



