Page:Ducks- and how to make them pay (IA cu31924003102971).pdf/96

72 shape as the cross I have mentioned, viz., the Rouen-Aylesbury. Even the writers on this breed say that they are in shape similar to the Aylesbury and the Rouen in their pure state. I do not mean merely to say that it is possible the Cayugas can be made up with the crosses I have mentioned, but that I am sure they can. I have produced many such birds myself, and have seen others do the same. There have been two pens of black ducks just round my neighbourhood for the last five years of the same cross, produced by my own birds. People call these ducks Cayugas. Certainly they are good layers; they naturally would be, because they are made of the right stuff. Those who have Cayugas have a difficulty in keeping the bright plumage, as it often gets dull; but if they will try the cross I recommend in the commencement of this chapter with a large Rouen duck and the largest East Indian drake that can be procured, their pens of Cayuga ducks will be wonderfully improved. I do not make this statement to run this variety of duck down, rather the other way about. They are really a splendid duck, good layers, and produce fine table birds, and as the colour does not show the dirt, they can be kept in towns, or in very small places where they are liable to get dirty. It is a breed which I have not kept very many of, but I hope to keep them more than I have done. The reason I have not kept as many as I might have done, is because they do not breed true to colour. When a person sells ducks' eggs, and represents the stock to be all perfectly black, and some of them come