292 A. Rampton—Waterfowl at South Lake, Woodley


At any rate, the birds we first purchased consisted of most of the

British surface feeders, Carolinas, Rosy-bills, besides the more com¬

monly kept foreign species. Doubtfully we purchased pairs of Pink¬

footed, Bar-headed, and Bernacle Geese, and hoped they would manage

without the grass. The one, as one might say, interesting bird, was

a pair of Goosanders, which we believed would be able to make a living

for themselves out of the numerous small fish that live in the lake.

They have fully justified our confidence, for of all the Duck on the

lake at present, none seems so consistently at home ; their diet, I

should say, has always been supplemented by a daily ration of raw

meat, but this is given them, rather to keep them tame, than as a

necessity. We made few additions during the winter, contenting

ourselves with improving the existing facilities ; however, in the

early spring a drake Gadwall, apparently a wild bird—though they

are decidedly uncommon in this district, came and settled with us,

and later on, a drake Garganey (somewhat rare anywhere) also came

and mated with a pinioned bird. Indeed it seems to me that not the

least fascinating part of keeping ornamental waterfowl is the attracting

of wild birds (Pochard, Tufted, and Wigeon), which within a very few

weeks come and feed as if they had been hand-reared on the place.


I suppose this is a commonplace with those who have kept birds for

any length of time, but for me it is still one of the most fascinating

parts of the whole business.


Breeding results this spring were, I believe, in common with many

other people, decidedly poor ; of course, many of the birds had not

by that time settled down, and of those that had, many, such as the

Geese, the Shelduck, and the Wigeon and other Ducks, do not breed

their first year. So that by the end of the breeding season, all we h£d

to show were a few White-eyes, European and American Pochard,

Common and Bahama Pintails, Gadwall, Garganey, Shoveller, Man¬

darins, and Carolinas. The Carolinas indeed were more promising

than the rest, some thirty or forty reaching maturity. Many, it is

to be feared, were lost through inexperience, such as a brood of Red-

billed Pintails, which were killed by their mother (a Silky-Wyandotte

cross) which had already been sitting too long. Incidentally, we have

come to the conclusion that, while conditions are as they are at present.



