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THE POULTRY BOOK. 
In suitable localities, no kind of poultry are more remunerative than ducks, 
whether regarded as egg-producers, or as furnishing young birds for the 
markets. 
“ The variety that is most remunerative is undoubtedly the large White Aylesbury. 
Their great weight, extreme prolificacy, and the rapidity with which the young 
ducldings attain a size fit for the table, render them superior to any other breed. 
The true Aylesbury are distinguished by their great size. The weight of the three 
prize pens (each containing a drake and one duck) at the Birmingham Show in 
1866 was, the first prize pair, eighteen, and the second and third, sixteen and a half 
pounds each. If these birds are fed liberally, and kept in a house which is pro- 
vided with fresh straw, and cleaned daily, they will lay during the coldest weather, 
when the eggs should be placed under hens. For this early hatching of ducklings. 
Cochins are particularly advantageous, as they sit well, and cover a large number 
of eggs. The ducklings when hatched should be fed most abundantly with slaked 
oatmeal, and afterwards with oats thrown into a pan of clean water. Their 
appetites are voracious ; but their growth is remarkably rapid, and under this 
system of management they are fit for the market in less than two months. 
Those birds intended to be killed should be prevented from swimming ; but those 
that are to be retained for stock should have free access to water. 
“The profit of rearing young ducks for the London markets is very consider- 
able. In some districts near the metropolis the labourers endeavour to get 
early clutches of ducklings, and rear them by hand in their cottages, and near 
Aylesbury great numbers are raised by persons who follow that occupation exclu- 
sively. The prices realized in the market by early ducklings, of necessity varies 
with the supply, but I have loiown them produce 8s. to 10s. each for several weeks 
together. 
“ One precaution should be taken in order to obtain all the eggs laid by the old 
ducks, namely, to shut them up during the night. It is generally at this time 
that they lay ; and by adopting this precaution the whole of their eggs are secured ; 
otherwise many are lost, as the ducks, until shortly before becoming broody, are 
careless layers, often dropping their eggs in the water, where they sink, and 
remain until putrid.” 
THE BUENOS AYRES, EAST INDIA, OR LABRADOR DUCK. 
If any circumstance were required to show the absurdity of geographical names 
for varieties of domestic animals, it would be found in the three titles given to this 
pretty little black variety of the Mallard. The bird is certainly not known in 
Labrador, nor is it common in the East Indies. The Zoological Society first received 
these birds from Buenos Ayres ; but when we bear in mind the fact that sailing 
vessels are continually conveying birds from one port to another, the fact does not 
prove that they originated in that locality, nor is the knowledge of the place from 
whence they were obtained of any consequence, as they are obviously merely artifi- 
cially perpetuated variations which do not exist in a wild state. Mr. Hewitt, who 
