249 Wild Duck. 



as well as a watch-house, where winged vermin are likely 

 to carry off the small ducks. 



The rearing-coops (Fig. 29) should be constructed with a 

 due provision of warmth and ventilation without draughts. 

 The size approximately should be 2ft. wide by 2oin. deep, 

 and from 2ft. slanting to i^in. high; they must be pro- 

 vided with a wooden flooring, and means for closing them 

 up at night, but the shutter or door, whichever it be, must 

 not reach quite to the top, but leave an inch or so margin 

 for ventilation purposes. No ventilating-holes should be 

 bored in the sides of coops for the purpose named. In 

 addition to the coops, a number of suitable wire netting- 

 covered runs, about 6ft. long and not less than 9in. high, 

 must be provided to confine and protect the ducklings in 

 their very early days. It is not necessary to have a run 

 for every coop, as their use only extends to a week or so, 

 and as the hatches come off in relays one set of runs 

 serves for several sets of coops. As soon as the young 

 ducklings are fit and strong enough, they must be removed 

 from the hatching-pens to the rearing-coops, and be placed 

 and shut up in the latter for a few hours or overnight, as 

 the case may be, before being allowed out in the protecting 

 run. 



The nature of the food given and the manner of giving 

 it have more to do with the successful rearing of wild 

 duck than almost anything else in the treatment meted 

 out to them. These remarks apply as much to the feeding 

 of the young ducks as to that of the birds when nearly 

 or wholly matured. It is necessary then to bear in mind 

 that as the proper modes of dealing with the one and then 

 the other differ widely, it is very important, in order to 

 command success, to give the matter particular attention. 



When the rearing of wild duck was first undertaken, it 

 was considered that if the ducklings were fed in the same 



