243 Wild Duck. 



duck may be freely reared and retained in places and 

 under conditions which to the ordinary mind would appear 

 quite impossible. Of course, where the surroundings 

 are such that under natural circumstances wild duck 

 would breed and increase of themselves, requiring only 

 that freedom from disturbance and quiet which the en- 

 tirely wild birds seek, there is nothing to prevent them 

 from multiplying of themselves to any reasonable extent. 

 Their numbers can in such cases be increased also by 

 means of hand-rearing and turning away additional 

 ducks. It is not, however, my present purpose to deal 

 with the question of wild-duck rearing under these condi- 

 tions, but under those which upon the face of it might 

 be regarded as in a great measure unfavourable or 

 unsuited to the purpose, but which in effect offer very little 

 difficulty to a successful outcome. 



Generally speaking, those who attempt to rear wild 

 ducks and maintain them upon such small waters and lands 

 as are at their command, find the chief difficulty to be that 

 of retaining them for their own sport or amusement. As 

 a rule, it is not so much the unsuitability of the place 

 chosen for the ducks as the mode of treating them after 

 they are reared which contributes to this undesirable 

 result. Consequently it will be apparent that it is in the 

 system of managing the wild ducks that most of the secret 

 of success lies. Of course a good deal depends upon 

 having a suitable " place " for them; but, as a rule, such 

 is easily found, although it is necessary to point out that 

 the conditions under which wild duck can be retained and 

 augmented in great numbers are vastly different from 

 those which obtain under other circumstances, and it is 

 precisely in applying the system which is successful in the 

 one case to those of the other that disappointment and 

 failure are brought about. 



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