British Diving Ducks 
only in its infancy at Netherby ; but as time goes on various natural water-plants which 
duck love, such as duck-weed (almost their favourite food), wild celery, wild rice, foxtail 
grass, and wapata, will be used. Water-cress is also good. The duck like it, and also it 
holds much insect-life in summer. When using wild rice it must be remembered that the 
seed must be imported and sown wet, otherwise it will not grow ; but under any circum- 
stances its success as a British plant is very doubtful. The best covert on the banks are 
those shrubs which grow quickly and form immediate wind-breaks, such as broom and 
willows, the latter being most important. A few rhododendrons are also good, but take 
time to grow. 
Sir Richard Graham, having found that Mallard could be attracted in large numbers, 
soon turned his attention to the preservation of other surface-feeding ducks, and formulated 
the theory, a strikingly original one, that in the case of those species, such as Pintail and 
Gadwall, which are difficult to breed and retain, a race of home-staying birds might be 
created by raising hybrids between them and Mallard, and again recrossing with Gadwall 
and Pintail, until at the third or fourth generation he had created a race of pure, or nearly 
pure, Gadwall or Pintail that would not be disposed to wander too far. This idea he has 
worked successfully, so that now there are at Netherby small flocks of what are to all 
appearances pure species, and which it is hoped in future will become numerous. The 
first thing to do was to get a race of home-dwelling wild duck of good strain as mothers, 
and by close observation and selection this was obtained. One curious fact was noted by 
Sir Richard, namely, that the wild ducks are bad and wandering mothers in the first year, 
and that it is not advisable to utilise them as such until the second or, better still, the 
third season. Then their first eggs are taken from them, and early in May, when they 
sit again, the eggs of Pintail, Gadwalls, or other surface-feeding duck are placed under 
them, with complete success. The progeny keep with the foster-mother till the autumn, 
and then often return themselves in spring to breed. In addition to this Sir Richard has 
found it an excellent plan to raise wild surface-feeding ducks by the following method : 
In November a large number of Mallard, Wigeon, Gadwall, Pintail, Teal, &c., are caught in 
the traps. These have their primaries cut, and are placed in a big wired-in enclosure 
and fed through the winter. At the end of February they are caught up, and the "stobs," 
or old quills, are pulled out by hand. The new primaries at once commence to grow, and 
the duck fly in twenty-six days. The object of the plan is this. By the end of March 
the duck are pairing, or have paired, and, it being too late in the season for them to go 
North and seek breeding-grounds, they are disinclined to travel, and so look for nesting- 
places in the immediate vicinity. This has been found to work well, and numbers of these 
winter-penned birds are settling down to nest in " roughs " about the Solway Moss and 
woods. 
Before leaving this subject of the pairing of ducks I would like to point out to future 
experimenters the great importance of fostering the " love matches " of ducks, an interesting 
phase in the character of these birds which I have fully explained in my work on the 
" Surface-feeding Ducks," and which may sound like some romantic dream, but is, never- 
theless, literally true. A drake will only successfully breed with a duck with whom he 
has fallen in love, and any forcing together by man is generally attended by failure. I 
noticed this long ago when keeping ducks in confinement, and Bell, the keeper, who has 
