Forest and Stream Letters 
FIVE DUCKS 
Dear Forest and Stream: 
take away a frog which the mallard 
has in its bill. 
'T'HERE are so many predatory ani¬ 
mals and birds about my country 
place at Stamford, Conn., that it is 
practically impossible to raise any 
chickens or ducks unless they are given 
so much attention that it is hardly 
worth while. I buy a few half grown 
ducks for decorative purposes on the 
stream near the house every year. This 
year I bought a half dozen runners 
which were not quite big enough to es¬ 
cape enemies and five of them disap¬ 
peared within . the next forty-eight 
hours, leaving one which recovered 
from its fright and appeared from 
some hiding place two or three days 
later. 
One of my neighbors in a spirit of 
sympathy for the little orphan sent 
over a young muscovy duck to keep the 
little runner company. Meantime I 
had purchased two nearly full-grown 
hybrids between the runner and Pekin 
ducks. A few days later these were 
joined by a wild mallard, a young male 
of the year, which dropped in for 
company. 
It has been interesting to note the 
difference in habits of these three kinds 
of ducks. The domesticated ducks 
were quite tame when I went to the 
river to feed them, but the wild duck 
immediately flew and gave a note of 
warning which the other ducks recog¬ 
nized as such and they all became 
wary and would not feed in my pres¬ 
ence for awhile. Meantime the wild 
duck showed less and less tendency to 
fly away and in a few days it became 
practically as tame as the others, all of 
which will now come to a call and feed 
without fear in my presence. 
The smartest duck of the entire lot 
is the muscovy. It spends more time 
catching insects than the others do and 
it is the only one which disappears 
completely under water when diving 
for corn. None of the other ducks 
go completely under water except for 
a short dip when exercising, but the 
little muscovy deliberately goes under 
for feeding purposes. The wild mal¬ 
lard hunts for small frogs on the bank, 
but none of the others do this, al¬ 
though the two hybrids will sometimes 
When I throw oatmeal into the water 
it floats, and hundreds of minnows 
splash about on the surface after the 
oatmeal, among the ducks. These min¬ 
nows could be very easily caught, but 
I have not seen any one of the three 
kinds of ducks make an attempt at 
catching a minnow, although they will 
all eat minnows if I catch these in a 
net and feed them to the ducks later. 
When the ducks are resting on the 
point of an island the mallard invari¬ 
ably takes position nearer to the water 
than any of the other ducks do. The 
mallard at first would not eat pieces of 
bread or boiled potato or any unfam¬ 
iliar food of this sort, but now it joins 
the other ducks in taking everything 
that is offered. 
W hen the mallard became sufficient¬ 
ly tame to join the other ducks at feed¬ 
ing time it always remained a little 
farther away than the others and kept 
the right foot up against its breast 
apparently ready for a spring. I 
usually called the ducks by simply say¬ 
ing, “Come ducks,” but when I changed 
the call to a “quack” like that which I 
use when duck shooting they came 
more quickly, and if the ducks were 
some distance away, the wild duck 
would spring from the water and fly 
to the feeding place, getting there 
ahead of the others. After I used the 
“quack” for calling, the mallard no 
longer remained on the outer circle 
when the ducks came to feed but 
mingled with them without regard to 
position and used both feet alike in¬ 
stead of keeping one foot set at hair 
trigger. 
When the ducks are puddling, the 
muscovy and the runner keep each 
other company by preference, while the 
mallard remains with the two hybrids. 
When they were resting on the island 
the runner at first always took posi¬ 
tion near the muscovy in a chummy 
sort of way and is still inclined to do 
so. One day, however, when a red¬ 
shouldered hawk hovered over the 
ducks that were somewhat scattered in 
the water and apparently had marked 
the muscovy for its prey, the mallard 
left the large hybrid ducks, hurried to 
the side of the small muscovy and as¬ 
sumed an attitude of defense for both. 
Incidentally I may remark that the 
red-shouldered hawk is not so innocent 
as I would like to believe it to be. It 
has been caught in the act of catching 
young fowl and quail too frequently to 
maintain the reputation given it by 
ornithologists. Robert T. Morris, 
New York City. 
MORE ABOUT FOX-HUNT¬ 
ING METHODS 
Dear Forest and Stream: 
JN answer to the criticism of B. T. 
Jones in your October issue, of Rey¬ 
nard of the River Swamp, I would like 
to explain that I have lived in this 
Province all my life and have never 
heard of any other system of hunting 
the Fox being used here, so do not 
think I merit the harsh treatment that 
he would have wished upon me. His 
is Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi; 
mine, Ontario, Canada; so I say, when 
in Rome, do as the Romans do. G. H. 
GOLDFISH FOR BAIT 
Dear Forest and Stream: 
J HAVE been interested this last 
spring and summer in using Louis 
Rhead’s new lures for trout and bass 
and have had with them marked suc¬ 
cess. My letter, however, is not writ¬ 
ten simply to compliment Mr. Rhead, 
and, as a matter of fact neither he nor 
Dr. Hentshell may desire compliments 
from such as I if they happen to 
peruse this communication. “Murder 
must out” notwithstanding! 
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