‘250 
DOMESTIC WATER FOWL' — DUCKS. 
The presence of a small running stream of water, 
or a wholesome pond, is of course indispensable in the 
rearing and keeping of these birds to advantage, and 
without trouble, for without this they are miserable 
flirty looking objects ; while, on the contrary, nothing 
can exceed the interest which arises from looking at 
their droll evolutions, and beautiful gestures, in their 
own natural element. 
Ducks are profitable as layers of eggs, of which 
they deposit prodigious numbers, commencing early in 
spring, and seldom leaving off the operation, daily, till 
towards autumn ; and although their eggs are not 
esteemed so highly as those of the Common Fowl, they 
are most useful in many domestic purposes. Their 
food may consist of the same materials as that already 
mentioned for other Poultry. 
Ducks may be housed at night in the same apart- 
ment with other Poultry, care being taken to protect 
them from the droppings of the birds perched upon 
the roosts above them, and a proper comfortable bed of 
straw strewed on the ground below, for the Ducks to 
rest upon ; the heat arising, and ascending to the other 
birds upon the roosts, we believe, benefits both. 
