Topic Index |
 A
young Duck is called a duckling. A male Duck is called a drake, the female
Duck a hen. Types of ducks include, Baikal Teal, Black Bellied Whistling
Duck, Blue Winged Teal, Bufflehead, Cinnamon Teal, Eurasian Wigeon, Falcated
Teal, Fulvous Whistling Duck, Garganey, Green Winged Teal, Mallard, Mottled
Duck, Northern Pintail, Northern Shoveler, White Cheeked Pintail, Whistling
Ducks, Wood Duck
 Ducks
are fairly easy to catch, they have an unfortunate time of the year when all
their flight feathers are dropped, and they are flightless. So at any time
in history, people could have domesticated wild mallard from captured birds,
or eggs stolen from the wild.
Even until the 1800s in Britain, it was probably easier to catch wild
birds for the table, in the great traps or decoys of the Fens, rather than
rear birds in captivity. But at some point, the economics of rearing birds
for the table overtook harvesting from the wild as an economic occupation.
Willughby (1678) described not only the Muscovy Duck, but also the 'Hook-bill'd
Duck' and 'common tame Duck', which looked very like a mallard. So, there
were different varieties of domesticated ducks in Europe certainly by the
1700s, and by 1750 the great 'Aylesbury duck' industry of the UK had also
began.
Ducks are well adapted for cold conditions. Their outer coat of
closely packed feathers is made waterproof by oil from a gland near
the tail, which is a trait characteristic of all waterfowl. Beneath
the coat of feathers is a thick inner layer of soft, fluffy feathers
called down. Ducks' webbed feet are able to withstand icy waters
because blood is shunted away from them during extreme cold.
Birds
Beasts
Serpents
Pigs
Chickens
Ducks
Cattle
Dogs Smooth Snake
Adder Grass Snake
Sand Lizard Slow Worm
Viviparous Lizard
Newt
Red Squirrel
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