302 
THE POULTRY BOOK. 
for a month or more, when the first plumage is gradually perfected. The young 
are exceedingly active, dive expertly, hide themselves when alarmed under banks, 
in holes, or among reeds or other rank herbage, and seem to feed more on insects, 
slugs, and other small animals, than on vegetable substances. 
A curious anecdote of a brood of wild ducks, told by his keeper, is thus related 
by Mr. St. John : — 
He found in some very rough marly ground, which was formerly a peat-moss, 
eight young ducks nearly full grown, prisoners, as it were, in one of the old peat- 
holes. They had evidently tumbled in some time before, and had managed to 
subsist on the insects, &c., that it contained, or that fell into it. From the 
manner in which they had undermined the banks of their watery prison, the 
birds must have been in it for some weeks. The sides were perpendicular, but 
there were small resting-places under the bank which prevented them being 
drov/ned. The size of the place they were in was about eight feet square, and in 
this small space they had not only grown up, but thrived, being fully as large and 
heavy as any other young ducks of the same age.” In from eight to ten weeks 
after they are hatched, the young are able to fly. 
The young, when fledged, resemble the female in colouring, and the young male 
assumes the full plumage of its sex at the end of its first autumn. Our domestic 
ducks are the offspring of the wild Mallard, greatly degenerated as to activity and 
beauty of form, but improved in bulk, and a susceptibility to fatten. Tame ducks 
lose their native delicacy of feeling, and instead of pairing for life, or at least for 
a season, become unprincipled socialists, every drake taking as many wives as he 
can get. 
In connection with the subject of Wild Ducks, Mr. Edward Hewitt has supplied 
us with the following notes on their capture : — 
No doubt many readers of the Poultry Book will peruse with considerable 
interest two different ways of effecting this purpose, that I have frequently seen 
successfully practised, although I readily acknowledge neither the one means nor 
the other that I shall mention betoken much of the spirit of the legitimate sports- 
man, but when the extreme difficulty of getting even a single shot at these wary 
birds is considered, perhaps the pot-hunting character of the means pursued will 
be overlooked. Be this as it may, I will briefly detail them. 
To ascertain the most favourite haunts of wild ducks is a matter of but 
little difficulty. This proved, the place should be baited for a few successive 
days, to encourage them to flock fearlessly and in number’s, and a little corn will 
not be ill bestowed. I have known even a single couple unmolested and enjoying 
the certainty of finding food joined during one short week by others, until fifteen 
or twenty composed the flock. 
“ The first plan is by short lines, with a common fish-hook attached, the bait a 
small piece of the lungs of any animal ; the ‘ lights ’ of a single rabbit will prove 
sufficient for twenty baits. As the bait itself will cause the hook to float, it is 
taken on the water, and then, the line being strong enough, the capture is certain. 
