Breeding Wildfowl in Captivity. 
In passing along the road near Woodbury, on 
lie Sound side of Long Island, where the hills 
ire clothed with locust and small oaks and the 
mdergrowth prevents an outlook of more than 
i quarter of a mile at any place, one comes 
uddenly on a farmhouse nestling close to the 
oad, and just beside it a large pond. There 
s nothing about the house to attract special 
ttention, and the pond is like any other pond, 
ave that a high wire fence incloses it. But 
m that pond and its shores are hundreds of 
yild ducks, perhaps half as many Canada geese, 
nd a sprinkling of black swans and brant. 
Apparently these fowl are wild as hawks, for 
stranger cannot approach them, but they seem 
ject, and acquired wildfowl until he was com¬ 
pelled either to move or dispose of them. A 
search resulted in the purchase of the farm at 
Woodbury, and in the few years’ time he has 
lived there his wildfowl have increased at an 
astonishing rate. By purchase, exchange and 
careful breeding he has acquired some twenty- 
eight varieties of wild ducks, several brant, 
swans and a horde of Canada geese, and is 
now one of the most successful of the amateur 
breeders. 
His success he attributes to proper feeding, 
to the destruction of the enemies of the wild¬ 
fowl, and to maintaining them in surroundings 
as nearly like those to which they are ac¬ 
customed as circumstances permit. Of course 
they must be fed, but this in itself is not a dis- 
time the ducklings, wet and bedraggled and 
cold, suffered from various ailments and only 
the most vigorous ones survived. In another 
season Mr. Cook plans to give better protection 
to the ducklings in stress of weather, and is 
confident he can materially reduce the loss. 
One curious thing he had noted was that the 
East-Indian spotted-bill had developed a tuft 
during the early summer. 
Mr. Cook’s place adjoins a public road on 
one side, and both of his ponds are near this 
road. The wildfowl pay little heed, however, 
to traffic, and the speeding motor cars which 
pass at times with much noise do not seem to 
disturb them. 
The larger pond of the two is in front of his 
residence. It is deep at one end but shoals at 
MR. cook’s WILDFOWL PONDS. 
The larger pond, where the geese brant, swans and the larger ducks live in The pond in the woods. The majority of the nests were made in the grass 
harmony. on the left hand. 
) be contented with their lot. At first the 
ene is astonishing, for there is nothing like 
on that side of Long Island, and at first one 
ies not connect the house with the pond and 
ie ducks. Driving on toward Cold Spring 
arbor, another pond and another flock of 
icks are seen, but these are all of the smaller 
irieties—teal, pintails and foreigners, such as 
ie sees occasionally at sportsmen’s shows. 
The farm with its wooded hills and its two 
mds is the property of Henry Cook. Briefly, 
r. Cook became interested in a wing-tipped 
ack duck, which he purchased from a bayman 
' the south side of the island a few years 
;o. He cared for the cripple, became inter- 
ted in it, and when it had recovered and was 
to fly away, he did not like to part with 
so he clipped its wings and kept it. To keep 
company he purchased another black duck, 
50 wing-tipped. Breeding wildfowl in cap- 
dy was not very well understood then, and 
r - Cook found that, although he purchased all 
J available literature on the subject, studied, 
responded with other breeders, and experi- 
:nted thoroughly, there were many things to 
irn slowly through experience, 
in time he became an enthusiast on the sub- 
turbing element to them, and to the food Mr. 
Cook is devoting his best efforts, for he believes 
that those varieties which, so far, have not 
bred will do so in time. 
At the time of our visit to Mr. Cook’s place 
he had in his ponds several hundred wildfowl, 
among them the following varieties of ducks: 
Mallards, black, Australian, spotted-bill from 
the East Indies; gadwalls, shovellers, pintails, 
Chilean pintails, Bahama pintails; blue-wing 
and green-wing teal, European green-wing teal, 
Japanese, Gargany and Brazilian teal; black- 
bellied tree ducks from Mexico and the African 
white-face tree duck; roseate spoonbill, canvas- 
back, Pochard, redhead, tufted and bluebill; man¬ 
darin and woodduck; American, European and 
Chilean widgeons. 
Canada geese are numerous in his ponds, 
and he also has a number of European swans 
and several brant. 
Last spring about ioo eggs laid by the wild 
ducks hatched, and out of this number nearly 
thirty ducklings were raised and the majority 
were in fine fettle when we saw them. Mr. 
Cook credited the loss to the unseasonable 
weather in May, when there was snov, much 
rain and the temperature wa3 low. At that 
the far end, terminating in a marshy flat 
which has been stripped bare of vegetation; 
indeed, plant life has disappeared with the in¬ 
crease in the flock, and it is only the trees and 
shrubs in the large inclosure that resist the at¬ 
tacks of the geese and ducks. Near the shores 
there is abundant shade, and there the young 
geese gather, while the ducks cruise about near 
the margin in rafts. The drouth lowered the 
water and confined the wildfowl to a much 
smaller area than formerly, but the owner took 
advantage pf this to dredge the pond deeper 
and insure a larger supply for next year. 
The smaller pond lies in a woodlot ioo yards 
from the house. Its shores slope gradually, 
and there is an abundance of grass and under¬ 
growth, while laurels and rhododendrons under 
the large oak trees supply numerous screens 
for nests. Under one of these laurels an 
Australian wild duck had her nest, and she pro¬ 
tested vigorously when Mr. Cook parted the 
leaves, so that she could be seen. This nest 
was some distance from the pond, while another 
one, carefully concealed with down, was found 
in the tall grass a hundred feet from the pond. 
In it there were nine of the eggs of a Gargany 
teal, at that time feeding with the pintails, the 
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