On the Rearing of Ducks for Shooting 139 
prospect of success in what the uninitiated would call very unfavourable situations, for duck 
and snipe will come year after year to the same place if the feed is there. As an example 
of this I may state that I have killed ten couple of snipe and four ducks before breakfast 
in the Postle Marsh close to Maryhill Barracks, a noisome bog actually in the town of 
Glasgow itself. Mr. Rimington-Wilson shot seventeen and a half couple of snipe in the 
same spot a few years before when the bog was larger. 
Now let us observe how the new ponds are made at Netherby. First, the site is 
chosen in the wood to one side, and below the Gap Burn, where the land is more or less 
flat. A few knolls or holes are no detriment, as on filling with water these form little 
islands or open spaces, which are advantageous. A section of parallelogram shape, one 
hundred and fifty yards long and about one hundred yards wide, is marked out, and the 
trees are felled (the sale of this timber, Scotch fir, pays for the making of the pond). 
Nothing is done to the main area, but banks about four feet high are raised round the 
pond, the bases and interior of these being filled with puddled clay and covered with sods. 
At the top left-hand corner an inlet is constructed some four feet above the stream-level, 
and about ten feet below, on the brook itself, a sluice-gate that can be lowered or opened 
at will. This controls the water-supply, so that the pond can be raised or made shallow 
as required. Before filling it has been found to be a good plan to plant rushes round 
the base and sides of the surrounding banks, as these plants not only prevent side-washing, 
but afford a secure retreat and shelter for young ducks in bad weather. It is also of 
importance that the pond should run out on one side to a level, as this gives the ducks 
landing-places, and is in summer a certain harbour of insects as the water retreats. ^ 
Bell, the duck-keeper, who is an unusually intelligent man, noticed that any old 
stumps of trees left sticking out of the water were usually crowded with duck preening 
themselves at certain hours, and so now flat boards are erected just above the water-level 
to which the birds can resort. Having filled the pond with water to a depth of three feet, 
it was at first found difficult to plant it with rushes ; but this obstacle was overcome by 
the keeper in a simple manner. He waited until a hard frost came, and then, digging up 
some hundreds of the plants with the roots, laid them on the ice in an erect position, after 
first cutting the roots square at the bottom. As soon as the thaw came, the plants sank 
straight to the bottom in an upright position and took root in all the shallows. Thus the 
pond had all the appearance of an old and naturally planted lake during the first summer, 
there being equal areas of rush, marsh, and open water. If we read the text-books on pond- 
making, we find diverse opinions on the merits of the common rush as covert suitable for 
ducks ; but Sir Richard Graham believes that there is no covert to excel it, as the old 
birds use the tufts on all windy days as a shelter, and the young get right in under them 
in bad weather, finding quantities of insects there in the coldest days of spring. It has 
been found to be a good plan to allow the water of the pond to overflow its banks occasion- 
ally, as it prevents moles and rats, the chief enemies of ponds, from extending their 
ramifications, while the water only percolates away and rejoins the side streams. 
No doubt much may be done with ponds to render them additionally attractive to 
wild duck of various kinds by planting and encouraging natural feed. At present this is 
^ There is an excellent description in Simpson's Game and Game Coverts on the making of artificial ponds, and for a perfect 
water-supply to a pondj see Field, Sept. 26, 1903, p. 547. 
