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CHAPTER VIII - DUCKS — GOOSE — PEACOCK — TURKEY — GUINEA-FOWL — CANARY-BIRD — GOLD-FISH — HIVE-BEES—SILK-MOTHS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2010

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Summary

I will, as in previous cases, first briefly describe the chief domestic breeds of the duck:—

Breed 1. Common Domestic Duck.—Varies much in colour and in proportions, and differs in instincts and disposition from the wild-duck. There are several sub-breeds:—(1) The Aylesbury, of great size, white, with paleyellow beak and legs; abdominal sack largely developed. (2) The Rouen, of great size, coloured like the wild-duck, with green or mottled beak; abdominal sack largely developed. (3) Tufted Duck, with a large topknot of fine downy feathers, supported on a fleshy mass, with the skull perforated beneath. The top-knot in a duck which I imported from Holland was two and a half inches in diameter. (4) Labrador (or Canadian, or Buenos Ayres, or East Indian); plumage entirely black; beak broader, relatively to its length, than in the wild-duck; eggs slightly tinted with black. This sub-breed perhaps ought to be ranked as a breed; it includes two sub-varieties, one as large as the common domestic duck, which I have kept alive, and the other smaller and often capable of flight. I presume it is this latter sub-variety which has been described in France as flying well, being rather wild, and when cooked having the flavour of the wildduck; nevertheless this sub-variety is polygamous, like other domesticated ducks and unlike the wild duck. […]

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010
First published in: 1868

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