On the Rearing of Ducks for Shooting 141 
a vast experience on this point, tells me that when he has accidentally paired a duck with 
another husband and placed the ill-assorted pair two hundred yards away in a pen, he has 
been struck with the restlessness and repeated cries of the duck to her old love, who in turn 
has been mated with another wife. Often has he seen a pair of duck, especially Teal, 
apparently settle to affairs matrimonial, and then the drake will become wild and restless, 
running up and down and calling repeatedly to some charmer in the far distance. I have 
seen a duck and drake sit patiently for hours together, separated by some wire fence, and 
such natural inclinations ought always to be encouraged. It seems scarcely necessary to 
point a moral for the human species. 
Mr. W. Coape Gates, who has successfully bred large numbers of duck, commenting 
on the third stage of the Netherby experiments, attributes the main cause of the failure to 
the fact that Nature was only allowed to have her own way to a certain extent. 
"Wild Ducks," he says {Country Life, February 25, 191 1), "if uncrossed with a tame strain, pair in 
the great majority of cases, and each pair like to wander off and nest in some special place selected by 
themselves ; and it would appear that the plan of wiring in a certain number of ducks and drakes in a 
given area thwarted this natural instinct ; and the fact that they were enclosed within a given area— no 
matter how spacious— prevented them from wandering far in search of food. I think, too, that two drakes 
to every ten ducks was hardly sufficient, and it would be interesting to know the percentage of ducklings 
hatched to eggs laid, and also the proportion of birds reared to those hatched. Many years ago I tried 
the wild duck as a mother on the rearing-field, and found her a complete failure. When placed under a 
coop, I found her terribly jealous and excitable, and so anxious that her young were often put off their 
food by the constant warning quacks of the old bird. I noticed also that in confinement they got terribly 
dirty, even if repeatedly washed, and that there were many more cases of purulent ophthalmia in a brood 
reared by a wild duck on the rearing-field than was the case if a hen was used as foster-mother. I may 
say that it is not my experience that hand-reared wild ducks are bad mothers— rather the reverse, and the 
mere fact of their being hand-reared makes them less likely to desert their nests while laying or sitting, 
as, being used to the proximity of man, they are naturally not shy. 
" The plan I have pursued during several breeding seasons, which has been very successful, is as 
follows. The ducks and drakes, approximately, in equal numbers, are allowed absolute liberty, and are 
permitted to select their own mates ; the birds are fed close to small areas which have previously been 
prepared for nesting purposes. Plenty of cover is supplied, artificial nests are hollowed out in suitable 
places, such as old willow trees, stacks of firewood, thick hedge bottoms, &c., and it is found that the 
birds, having been used to look for food at regular times in certain places, get into the habit of nesting in 
their near neighbourhood. Their nests are easily found, and each duck is allowed to lay three lots of 
eggs. The proceeds of the first two are placed under hens, and the duck is driven from her nest just as 
she commences to sit. These early lots are reared under hens, while the ducks are permitted to sit on 
their third lot of eggs, to hatch them out and rear the young birds under natural conditions ; consequently 
each bird gets some practice at bringing up a family, and the maternal instincts are allowed full play. 
Almost invariably the old ducks take their clutches up the shallow dikes, and some distance away from 
their usual haunts ; here they are free from the attentions of pike, and if the stream is running, a steady 
supply of food may be expected to come down. Sometimes drakes behave in a very unnatural manner, 
pulling the sitting ducks off their nests, and even interfering with the eggs ; consequendy it is often wise 
to catch them up altogether, when the ducks have begun to sit. Drakes vary, however, in disposition, 
and I have seen one defend his mate and ducklings against a number of others, warding them off until 
free passage had been allowed to her and her brood. 
"The construction of a decoy-pond in 1904 by Sir Richard Graham and the further extension of the 
work were the most important steps hitherto taken. A decoy-pond, where food is regularly supplied and 
rest and shelter are always to be had, will draw numbers of strange ducks ; but these strangers will not 
stay to breed there in large numbers, as they prefer solitude at this time, and it was a stroke of genius to 
extend their breeding area by the construction of numerous other ponds in the vicinity ; these were small 
