Donald Duck

“ She is clothed with an impenetrable coat of feathers and an equally thick coat of down. She does not take kindly to confinement in a building and will utter her constant protest, and like the average school boy of ten prefers to suffer from the cold outside to being comfortable in. Therefore, the main point in breeding early ducks and erecting buildings for the same, next to supplying them with the right kind of food, is to keep their feet warm. Cold feet affect the winter laying of the duck the same as a frozen comb affects the hen. ”

“ It is the same feeling that inspires in aged men that ardent desire to return to their old home to die and be buried there. To the naturalist who goes to the north to study the ways of the birds this trait in their character is of peculiar interest. Of one of the tribes of these colonists of the northern bird-mountain I must make particular mention. It is the eider duck, the producer of down. It belongs to the family of the ducks, and forms, so far as bodily stature is concerned, one of the largest species of the group. The plumage of the male is handsome and brilliant. ”

“ The Mallard is rarely or never shot to decoys, or stools as they are termed, since these are but little used except on the coast, where this duck is, as I have previously observed, of rare occurrence, although it is occasionally found in company with the Dusky Duck, anas obscura, better known to gunners as the Black Duck.
“Like the Dusky Duck,” says Mr. Giraud, in his very clever and agreeable manual on the birds of Long Island, “when pursued by the sportsman, it becomes shy and feeds at night, dozing away the day out of gun-shot from the shore. ”

“ Range.--Whole of North America, breeding chiefly north of the United States.
Buff.
A small, handsome species, the male of which can readily be identified by the reddish brown head and neck, with the large green patch behind each ear; length fourteen inches. Green-winged Teals are our smallest representative of the Duck family. They are eagerly sought by sportsmen, both because of their beauty and the excellence of their flesh. They are among the most common of Ducks in the interior, where they nest generally in tufts of grass along ponds, lakes or brooks. ”

“ Formerly people supposed that ducks could not be successfully grown without access to either pond, stream or coast line. As a natural consequence, a large share of the birds sold in the markets were grown on or near the coasts, fed largely on fish, partially fattened, and were anything but a tempting morsel. For years there have been large establishments on the Long Island shores devoted to duck-culture. Large seines and nets were used regularly to secure the fish on which the young birds were fed and fattened. ”

“ All the Ducks are different; all have little blots and streaks that are their labels, or like the uniforms of soldiers. 'Now, if I can put their uniforms down on paper I'll know the Ducks as soon as I see them on a pond a long way off.' So he set to work and drew what he could find. One of his friends had a stuffed Wood-duck, so the 'Boy-that-wanted-to-know' drew that from a long way off. He got another from an engraving and two more from the window of a taxidermist shop. ”

“ The meat of ducks is dark over the entire bird, and the greatest amount is found on the breast. Its flavor is quite typical, and differs very much from turkey and chicken. However, there is a comparatively small amount of meat even on a good-sized duck, and it does not carve to very good advantage; in fact, more persons can be served from a chicken or a turkey of the same weight. Young ducks are rather difficult to clean, as a layer of fine down, which is not easily removed, covers the skin. ”

“ Now bend your neck, and say 'Quack!'"
But the Ugly Duckling was an odd bird, as well as an ill-favoured one, and gave much trouble and excited much jealousy in the duck-yard. He quacked indeed, but he would not bend his head or bow to the old duck properly.
"He remained too long in the egg-shell," mused the maternal bird; "and therefore his figure, like his manners, is not properly formed on the true duck model. But as he's a male duck it won't matter so much. I think he'll prove strong, and be able to fight his way through the world." ”

“ Where they can be allowed to remain outdoors at night, they really need no shelter but a shed large enough to give them shade from the sun on hot days and protection from hard, driving storms. On most town lots, however, it is advisable to have them indoors at night for protection from dogs and thieves. Also, the amount of roughing that they like, while not at all detrimental to them, is not conducive to early laying. So most duck keepers prefer to have the ducks housed at night and in severe weather, and give them approximately the same space that would be given to an equal number of fowls. ”

“ Tess went with her smaller sister then, leaving Ruth to read aloud for the delight of the rest of the family Sammy Pinkney's composition on
"THE DUCK
"The duck is a low heavyset bird he is a mighty poor singer having a coarse voice like crows only worse caused by getting to many frogs in his neck. He is parshal to water and aks like hed swallowed a toy balloon that keeps him from sinking81 the best he can do is to sink his head straight down but his tail fethers is always above water. ”

“ Form like that of the last, but with the head, neck, rump and underparts rusty, and with no white in the wings. The Fulvous Duck is much more abundant in the United States than the Black-bellied, and is casually found as far north as Kansas and Nevada, while it is regularly found in Texas and Louisiana, where it is known as the Long-legged Duck. Owing to the nature of its diet, which consists chiefly of grain, roots and water plants, the flesh of this bird is esteemed as an article of food, and many are killed for such. ”

“ Its flesh is next in delicacy to that of the teal, and is held in estimation at table. It is much more rare in the northern than in the southern counties, and off the coast of Cornwall thirty-seven birds have been bagged at one shot. The pintail breeds but rarely in England.
We now come to the diving ducks. Speaking generally, the "surface" ducks haunt fresh water; diving ducks the sea. The most prominent of these are the scaup; common, velvet, and surf scoters; the pochard, golden-eye, and tufted duck.
The inland sportsman or decoy-man knows little of the diving ducks. ”

“ He washed and put on clean clothes and going to his grandmother said, "You have no tlhan," (strips of fur woven into blankets) ; "you have no da" (martin skin) . She answered, "Yes" and gave him a strip of fur with which he tied up his front hair, taken in a bunch (this was done when one felt angry) , and he dabbed his mouth with red paint, but still the people laughed at him, although he looked like a chief. Then the canoe started for the sealion grounds and while Kash-ka-di boasted of his great strength and what he would do, Duck-toolh sat silently in the bottom of the canoe. ”

“ On land this Duck moves with more ease and grace than any other of its species except the Wood Duck, and it can run with considerable speed. In the water also it moves with great ease and rapidity, and on the wing it is one of the swiftest of its tribe. From the water it rises with a single spring and so swiftly that it can be struck only by a very expert marksman; when wounded it dives readily.
As the Teal is more particular in the selection of its food than are most Ducks, its flesh, in consequence, is very delicious. ”

“ After they have come out by the walk a few times, they will begin to go in by it. It is very important to make sure that if young ducks are given water to play in, they can get out of it easily. Many who have not had experience in handling them neglect this and feel very bad when some of their ducklings are drowned.
If proper provision is made for the safety of the ducklings, they afford a great deal of entertainment. One of the first things a little duck does when it gets into the water is to go through the peculiar ducking performance that gives the name to its species. ”

“ As Ducks soon learn to keep well out of gunshot, they are more frightened than hurt.
Black Duck (Anas superciliosa) .—A fair number on Lake Violet, Milly Pool, and other sheets of water. No doubt pairs occasionally breed, as the young have been shot before they could fly.
Sparrow-Hawk (Accipter cirrhocephalus) .—Scattered pairs are to be found throughout the district, breeding in suitable haunts. Near Milly Pool I found three nests—the first a very well constructed nest in a beef-wood tree. All the material was entirely new and neatly put together. ”

“ The hook-billed duck has a most remarkable appearance (see fig. of skull, woodcut No. 39) ; and its peculiar beak has been inherited at least since the year 1676. This structure is evidently analogous with that described in the Bagadotten carrier pigeon. Mr. Brent [449] says that, when hook-billed ducks are crossed with common ducks, "many young ones are produced with the upper mandible shorter than the lower, which not unfrequently causes the death of the bird." A tuft of feathers on the head is by no means a rare occurrence ”

“ He never takes his ould grey hat off his bald head but to pull on his night-cap. He's round-shouldered and short, but stout and strong for his age, which is on the grave side of sixty; and the fronts of his knees is turned in, and they jostle one another; and his feet are broad and flat, with the heels far out and in front, instead of being behind; and this—poor man!—makes him waddle oddly: he's none the worse for that though. After this pedigree of his appearance, most likely you'd know Duck if you met him. ”

“ Duck-culture of today is quite a different thing from the days of yore. Then, the young birds were confided to the tender mercies of the old hen. Now, the business is all done artificially. The artificially-grown, scrap-fed duckling of the interior is a far different bird from his fishy-fed brother of the coast. He has been educated to a complete indifference to water except to satisfy his thirst. Taught to take on flesh and fat instead of feathers, his body is widened out and rounded off, and, when properly denuded of his feathers, is a thing of beauty.
Ducks In Great Demand for Food. ”

“ No hybrids from different species were obtained, except from crosses between the mallard and the dusky duck. The food of all the ducks was what they ate in the wild state—grains, acorns, etc.; and shoots and roots of aquatic plants for the wood-ducks. All the species experimented with migrated southward, if not maimed, each autumn, and invariably returned with a male mate, which remained till the female began to hatch, when it went away, never to return. ”

“ But before he'd been in it a week, Duck had a quarrel with his master, Timberleg, and another was put in his place. So then his wife's brother, Paddy Doolan, who is one of my neighbours, persuaded him to quit the bailiff entirely, and to set up for himself here among us, as we didn't want finer work than he was able to do without straining his ould eyes. Duck took his brother-in-law's advice, and has been with us from that day to this.
He has just as great a dislike to ould women as ever he had; that's why he don't trate his wife as he should do, as many think ”

“ For though few men had ever less pretensions to poetical genius than Duck, yet the Court party actually set him up as a rival—nay, as superior—to Pope. And the saddest part of the affair was that Duck, in his utter simplicity and ignorance of what really constituted poetry, was led to fancy himself the greatest poet of the age. Consequently, considering that his genius was neglected, and that he was not rewarded according to his poetical deserts by being made the clergyman of an obscure village, he fell into a state of melancholy, which ended in suicide ”

“ It cannot be kept in a coop or an inclosed place like fowls, but give it an open field, with a running stream, and it will ask nothing more. You will hardly need to feed it, for it knows well how to feed itself.
The duck is not a lazy bird. It will eat almost [187] anything, and is always waddling about picking up snails, grubs, and insects, or sailing on the water and thrusting its beak into the soft mud for worms.
Willie and His Pet Ducks
If the duck farm is large enough and has a pond or stream, the keeping of ducks is very easy. ”

“ With several thousand ducklings confined in one building, the tendency is decidedly filthy. The capacity of the duckling for filth is wonderful, and he comes honestly by it. It is simply astonishing how soon he will manage to mix the contents of his water-tank with that of his yard and make both sloppy and offensive. The chick is nowhere in comparison. It is true, the duck is not so easily affected by it as the chick, but it will not do to presume too much upon that. At this stage the attendant will be kept busy every moment from daylight to dark. ”

“ The Summer Duck is equally well known in Mexico and many of the West India islands. During the whole of our winters they are occasionally seen in the states south of the Potomac. On the 10th of January I met with two on a creek near Petersburgh, in Virginia. In the more northern districts, however, they are migratory. In Pennsylvania the female usually begins to lay late in April, or early in May. Instances have been known where the nest was constructed of a few sticks laid in a fork of the branches ”