Water FowL 
CHAPTER VI. 
DUCKS. 
g. ®OUUN DUCKS. u. AYLESBURY DUCKS. III. CAT.T, DTTOKS. TV. CAYUGA 
BLACK DUCKo. V. GUAY DUCKS. VI. BLACK EAST INDIA DUCKS. 
SUMMARY 
Ducks and geese are becoming more and more fancied from year to 
year on the farm, as they should properly be. The reason why they 
have not been more extensively raised than they have, is from the erro- 
neous opinion that a pond or lake is essential to them. They should 
have a pool of water to wash in ; this produced, it is all that is necessary 
so far as water is concerned ; in fact, without water they are more domes- 
ticated and less inclined to ramble. All the principal farm breeds of 
ducks are probably descended from the Anas boschas, or wild Mallard 
Like the wild goose, it is not difficult to domesticate wild ducks. All 
that is necessary is to get the eggs and rear them under a hen, the eggs 
hatching in twenty-eight days. There is no farm bird that is a more 
inveterate insect hunter or more agile than a young duck, one specimen 
taking fully double per day what chickens will. Hence their value to 
the farmer, and especially the gardener, is very considerable' in addition 
to their egg and flesh producing qualities. They should be raised more 
extensively than they are, and on every farm. 
I. Rouen Ducks. 
Whatever may have been the origin of the name, Rouen, from a town 
in France, celebrated for its ducl^s, or roan, from its color, this variety 
ts simply a wild Mallard, improved and enlarged by selection and care in 
