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The Duck as an Egg -Producer. 



[Dec, 



than for laying Jiens. It is the natural craving for proteids in 

 the shape of insect life which makes the Eunner duck such an 

 untiring forager. 



Farm land varies considerably in the quantity of insect life 

 and grubs which it carries, but few farms, grass or arable, are 

 so fortunate as not to be sufficiently stocked with pests of this 

 kind to keep busily employed Hocks of ducks disposed at the 

 rate of 6 to 10 to the acre. I have, on suitable land, kept fully 

 twice as many birds the seasons through for several successive 

 years, but the best of feeding ground becomes exhausted, so that 

 periodical changes are desirable. The fact that flocks of these 

 ducks will considerably reduce the stock of insect hfe on a given 

 area supports the contention made by some people that such 

 birds are natural destroyers of many noxious insects. 



Perhaps one of the most noteworthy examples of what such 

 ducks are capable of performing on behalf of agriculture is that 

 afforded by the fact that to my knowledge they are devourers 

 of the fresh water snail which is directly responsible for liver- 

 fluke in sheep. 



At certain periods of the year I have known Eunner ducks to 

 devour enormous numbers of crane flies (the parents of the 

 leather- jacket grub) as these emerged from their pupa cases, 

 and as the " rise " from the pasture of this destructive insect 

 often takes place during the dusk of late evening, ducks, which 

 are often most active at such an hour, have an opportunity if 

 not shut up too early of securing this prey which other poultry 

 cannot enjoy. 



Slugs and snails are eaten with gieat avidity by ducks, and 

 there are instances on record which tell us how a flock of these 

 birds has completely eradicated the little white slug which is 

 often so injurious to clover and o^'her pasturage. The click- 

 beetle (parent of the wire-worm.) is also sought for and devoured, 

 as examinations of crop contents hare plainly shown, and 

 another pest which, like the crane-fly, is often to be secured at 

 dusk, is the cockchafer. These fat and luscious morsels, both 

 the young adults as they emerge from the ground and the egg- 

 depositing females, are greedily swallowed by foraging ducks. 



Though it is doubtful whether ducks are able to have much 

 efl^ect in destroying noxious larvae in grass the same end is even- 

 tually achieved by the eradication of the parent insects. On 

 arable land, however, especially when ploughing or other work 

 is in progress, the quantity of wire -worm, leather- jackets, chafer 

 grubs and other larvte eaten by ducks is enormous. Their appe- 



