Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1893-11-16
AN ELDER DUCK FARM. ,
How IceIand's Chief Industry Is Man
nge and Made Profitable.

ngel and Made Profitable.
In the rccesses and holes and
cavities between the hummocks OF
Iceland the elder ducks may be seen
sitting on their nests. OF these
there are several scores, and the birds
themselves when sitting are perfectly
tame, some Of them even allowing a
stranger to stroke them with tho
nard. They are not all Matched at
the same time, and are still in the
egg when others are hat he'd and
swimming about in the sea. The
drake. as is so frequently the case
with the male bird. is handsome,
| SNOWY creature, with much white in
his plumage. He is excessively shy
and wary. while the female, whose
plumage Is brown and glossy, is. on
the contrary tame and Goniding
The duck lays from five to six eggs
at the beginning of June. and it is
no unusual thing to find from ten to
| siXt en- eggs in one nest together
| with two females, who sit either at in
! tervals, CT, il necessary, both at the
! same time, and strange to say, seem
TO agree rema; kably well with one
anothcr. Tho period of laying lasts
some six o, seven weeks, ana the
birds are in the habit of laying three
times in different places. From the
| first and second Of these both the
down and eggs are taken away, but
| from the last il Is very seldom that
| the farmer removes either Should
he do 50 with any degree Of per-
sistency the birds would desert tho
locality, and he is not such fool as
! to destroy the duck with the golden
eggs.
! In some cases the owner resides
on or near the farm. In this par
! ticular instance he visits the island
| from the mainland once week at
| least, So soon as he and his men
arrive at the nest they carefully re.
move the female and take away tho
supcr.luous down and eggs. The
duck Immediately begins to lay
arresh, and covers her eggs with
new down. which she plucks from
her own breast If the supply is in
adequate the male comes to her assist
ance and helps to cover the eggs
with his down This being white is
easily distinguished from the brown
covering which the female supplies,
aud is not so good in quality.
The nest is now, as q general rule,
| left until the young ones are Matched
| There is not much callowness and
| hclplessncss about these youngsters.
| About an hour after they are out OF
! the she'll they quit the most together,
when it i once more plundercd This
! down is divided INTO selweed down
aal gtass down. The latter Is gener-
ally considered to be the best in
quality. The down is very valuable
AMI fctches from 81 to S. pound.
The three first takes of down vary
considerably in quality, the first
being superior to the second AMI the
second to the third. The birds them
selves, apart from their down giving
capacities, are Of little value. The
! down taken from dead elder ducks is
valueiess, rs it has lost all its marve-
! lous elasticity.
| An cider duck farmer is excessively
proud Of his ducks. and regards them
with intense and peculiar affection,
! sa,s the Chicago Record. The owner
| of the farm just desc ibed was in tho
! habit of saying that he would rather
! lose one Of his children than one of
| his ducks, but to any one who had
seen both, this statement would seem
to have had but little comparative
!