ing the right diet. It consisted of angle worms placed in 
a pan of water and served five times a day until the duck¬ 
lings were six weeks old. Then we gave them our regular 
chicken ration. The old hen was not a success in caring 
for them so we took her away and, to keep the little ducks 
company we bought a drake that was half Mallard. We 
thought at first we had made a mistake in getting him, 
but as it turned out he was a prize. 
The ducklings grew to a good size for wild birds reared 
in a cage, and when they were feathered out we found 
there were two ducks and three drakes. There was one 
duck which was larger than the rest and in the Fall we 
put her and the old Mallard in a separate cage. The 
remaining duck was left with the other drakes, but she 
was so ugly that they were afraid to go near her while she, 
for her part, made it plain that she wanted the old Mallard. 
We finally put her in the cage with him and his mate, and 
the outcome of this move was a continuous battle between 
the two ducks, in which the intruder was victorious until 
the old Mallard took the side of his mate and drove the 
ugly one away. 
So far we had raised them and had a permit to keep 
them, but what to do with them was a problem. We were 
almost tempted to let them go some of those fall nights 
when a cold fog with a tang of salt blew in from the sea. 
They must have known that way out there were other ducks 
streaming south, for they would stand up in their cage 
with their long necks stretched out, calling in deep, harsh 
notes. We sympathized with them and for many days 
were undecided. 
They stayed out all winter, and would go to sleep with 
their feet drawn up into their feathers and several of the 
coldest mornings we found them struggling to get up. At 
these times we were obliged to get the axe and chop them 
out of the ice that imprisoned them. 
One Sunday morning it started to snow and before night 
there was a blizzard raging, so we put the ducks in their 
coops for safetjr. When we dug them out, we found the 
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