Our Domestic Birds

for it is much easier to produce eggs and meat from ducks than from any known species of gallinaceous bird except the fowl. To most peop

at than hens' eggs, often consider the flesh and eggs of fowls rather insipid. The feathers of ducks are more valuable comm

in the races of fowls. As the duck in a state of nature lives much upon the water, its form is at nearly every point different from the typical form of the fowl. The duck is usually de

a protection from wind and cold that hardy ducks are quite indifferent to keen winds and low temperatures, and, if left to themselves, rarely seek shelter in winter. During a heavy snowfall they will get under cover to escape being buried in the snow. At other times they seem quite as comfortable on snow and ice as on the ground. One of the most interesting sights of the poultry yard is to see a duck sit down on the snow or ice when the temperature is below zero, draw up its feet and work them into the feathers at

by the legs, as fowls are usually caught and handled. It is very easy to break or dislocate the leg of a duck in this way. Hence, the usual method is to catch and carry them by the neck, which is very strong. Most persons who are not used to handling ducks are afraid of choking them by grasping the neck firmly, but there is very little danger of this. The

ducks are the voice and the presence or absence of the small curled feathers on the tail which characterize the males. In party-colored varieties the color markings of the male and female are sometim

e "drake" is supposed to be derived from an Old German word meaning "the chief duck." Any one who is familiar with the habits of ducks will see at once the appropriateness of the term. Ducks often march in single file, and when they do so, all the drakes in a group go first, the ducks following them, usually

mestication. Although in the wild state it is a migratory bird, in domestication it soon becomes too heavy to fly far. After a few generations in domestication it becomes as large as common domestic stock, loses its power of flight, and cannot be d

llard Ducks, Brook View F

owl. Wherever at any time in the history of the world male and female wild Mallards happened to be caught and kept in captivity, a domestic race might be developed. A missionary who went to Africa in 1885 and worked among the Bakubas-a people more than a thousand miles from the west coast of the continent-reported that he found there such little mongrel fowls as are common elsewhere in Africa, and a local race of domestic ducks varied in color as are

uscovy Ducks. (Phot

ocess of natural selection, the character of dumbness had been acquired by the domestic animals, to which it gave a measure of protection from wild enem

tisfied with the filthiest puddles) is much the same in all parts of the world and is a very inferior bird in comparison with ducks of the improved races. Common ducks are usu

origin. At the poultry exhibition at Boston in 1849 the only kinds exh

ry, in England. It has a flesh-colored bill, and legs of a pale orange color. Although the f

eral other particulars besides the naked head with its bright-red, carunculated skin. The male is very much larger than the female. The tail is longer and more depressed. There is an entire absence of red pigment in the plumage. The natural color is black and white, unevenly distributed. This variety is called the Colored Musco

e might be developed at any time from common ducks of that color. Rouen Ducks are said to have been well known in the south of England early in the nineteenth century. When they were brought to this country is not known. Although for a long time they have been familiar to those who at

s, Brook View Farm,

New York. Some early accounts of its origin stated that it was a domesticated wild black duck, but it is

Flock of P

e brought to England in 1874 and to the United States from England in the following year, but some accounts say that both England and America received them direct in 1873, and one account places the first importation to England in 1872. The exact truth is not of importance in such a matter, but those who are interested in the remarkable developments in duck culture which followed the arrival of this breed in the Western World naturally wish to know the facts. All accoun

districts in the Netherlands. The peasants of these districts compelled their ducks to forage for their food, and so develope

(Photograph from owner, Clayton

umberland fifty or sixty years before, and that ever since that time they had been bred pure by a few breeders and more or less mixed with the common stock of that section by many others. The story of their his

oes not, as many admirers of the breed claim, surpass fowls in egg producti

s. (Photograph from Bureau of Animal Indust

of an improved type of the common duck. There are several other quite w

hem valuable for calling wild ducks within range of the guns of hunters, and they are much used as decoys. They are very small and were produced by dwarfing common ducks. The name "gray," to describe the colored variety, is misleading. The color is like that of the Mallard but of a lighter shade. Some Mall

(Photograph from owner, Sunswi

n Duck, which, besides being gorgeously colored, has a peculiar crest and has some of the feathers on its wings oddly curved and spread, giving it a singular appearance.

f fowls, both on farms and by town poultry keepers, either because the owner likes to have them about or to add to the variety of poultry meat for home consumption. The flocks of ducks so kept are of comparatively little economic importance. The ratio of ducks to fowls is only about one to fifty, and the ratio of values of the products of these two kind

Call Ducks, Brook View F

hem. Fowls are much easier to handle in the way the fancier must often handle his birds for thorough examination. As a rule, a fowl quickly learns that it is not going to be hurt, and the more it is handled the tamer it becomes. Young ducks are almost stupidly fearless of the person who feeds them, as l

ree from this timidity could gradually be developed. Individual birds are often found which are not at al