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DUCK

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 631 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DUCK . (I) (From the verb " to duck," to dive, put the See also:

head under See also:water, in reference to the See also:bird's See also:action, cf. Dutch See also:duiker, Ger. Taucher, diving-bird, duiken, tauchen, to See also:dip, dive, See also:Dan. (Wand, duck; and Ger. Ente, duck; various See also:familiar and See also:slang usages are based on See also:analogy with the bird's action), the See also:general See also:English name for a large number of birds forming the greater: See also:part of the See also:family Anatidae, of See also:modern ornithologists. Technically the See also:term duck is restricted to the See also:female, the male being called See also:drake (cognate with the termination of.Ger. Enterich), and in one See also:species mallard (Fr. Malart). The Anatidae may be at once divided; into six more or less well marked subfamilies—(1)' the Cygninae or swans, (2) the Anserinae or geese—which are each very distinct, (3) the Anatinae or See also:freshwater-ducks, (4) those commonly called Fuligulinae or See also:sea-ducks, (5) the Erismaturinae or spiny-tailed ducks,, and (6) the Merginae or mergansers. The Anatinae are the typical See also:group, and it is these only that are considered here. We start with the See also:Alias boschas of See also:Linnaeus, the See also:common See also:wild duck, which from every point of view is by far the most important species, as it is the most plentiful, the most widely distributed.,, and the best known—being indeed the origin of all the See also:British domestic breeds.

It inhabits the greater part of the See also:

northern hemisphere, reaching in See also:winter so far as the See also:Isthmus of See also:Panama in the New See also:World, and in the Old being abundant at the same See also:season in See also:Egypt and See also:north-western See also:India, while in summer it ranges throughout the See also:Fur-Countries, See also:Green-See also:land, See also:Iceland, See also:Lapland and See also:Siberia. Most of those which fill British markets are no doubt bred in, more northern climes, but a considerable proportion of them are yet produced in the British Islands, though not in anything like the See also:numbers that used to be supplied before the 'draining of the See also:great fen-See also:country and other marshy places. The wild duck pairs very See also:early in the year— the See also:period being somewhat delayed by hard See also:weather, and the ceremonies of courtship, which require some little See also:time. Soon after these are performed, the respective couples See also:separate in See also:search of suitable nesting-places, which are generally found, by those that remain with us, about the See also:middle of See also:March. The spot chosen is sometimes near a See also:river or See also:pond, but often very far removed from water, and it may be under a See also:furze-See also:bush, on a dry See also:heath, at the bottom of a thick hedge-See also:row, or even in any convenient hole in a See also:tree. A little dry grass is generally collected, and on it the eggs, from 9 to 11 in number, are laid. So soon as See also:incubation'rommences the See also:mother begins to divest herself of the down which grows thickly beneath her See also:breast-feathers, and adds it to the See also:nest-See also:furniture, so that the eggs are deeply imbedded in this See also:heat-retaining substance—a portion, of which she is always careful to pull, as a coverlet, over her treasures when she quits them for See also:food. She is seldom absent from the nest, how-ever, but once, or at most twice, a See also:day, and then she dares not leave it until her See also:mate, after several circling flights of observation, has assured her she may do so unobserved. Joining him the pair betake themselves to some quiet spot where she may bathe and otherwise refresh herself. Then they return to the nest, and after cautiously reconnoitring the neighbourhood, she loses no time in reseating herself on her eggs, while he, when she is settled, See also:repairs, again to the See also:waters, and passes his day listlessly in the See also:company of his brethren, who have the same duties, hopes and cares. See also:Short. and infrequent as are the absences of the duck when incubation "begins, they become shorter and more in-frequent towards its See also:close, and for the last day or two of the 28 necessary to develop the See also:young it is probable that she will not stir from the nest at all. When all the fertile eggs are hatched her next care is to get the brood safely to the water.

This, when the distance is great, necessarily demands great caution, and so cunningly is it done that but few persons have encountered the mother and offspring as they make the dangerous See also:

journey.' If disturbed the young instantly hide as they best can, while the mother quacks loudly, feigns lameness, and flutters off to divert the See also:attention of the intruder from her brood, who See also:lie motionless at her warning notes. Once arrived at the water they are comparatively See also:free from harm, though other perils See also:present themselves from its inmates in the See also:form of See also:pike and other voracious fishes, which seize the ducklings as they disport in quest of See also:insects on the See also:surface or dive beneath it. Throughout the summer the duck continues her care unremittingly, until the young are full grown and feathered; but it is no part of the mallard's See also:duty to look after his offspring, and indeed he speedily becomes incapable of helping them, for towards the end of May he begins to undergo his extraordinary additional See also:moult, loses the See also:power of See also:flight, and does not regain his full plumage till autumn. About See also:harvest-time the young are well able to shift for themselves, and then resort to the See also:corn-See also:fields at evening, where they fatten on the scattered See also:grain. Towards the end of See also:September or beginning of See also:October both old and young unite in large flocks and betake themselves to the larger waters. If See also:long-continued See also:frost prevail, most of the ducks resort to the estuaries and tidal See also:rivers, or even leave these islands almost entirely. Soon after See also:Christmas the return-flight commences, and then begins anew the course of See also:life already described. For the farmyard varieties, descending from Anas boschas, see POULTRY. The domestication of the duck is very See also:ancient. Several distinct breeds have been established, of which the most esteemed from an economical point of view are those known as the See also:Rouen and See also:Aylesbury; but perhaps the most remarkable deviation from the normal form is the so-called See also:penguin-duck, in which the bird assumes an upright attitude and its wings are much diminished in See also:size. A remarkable breed also is that often named (though quite fancifully) the " Buenos-Ayres " duck, wherein the whole plumage is of a deep See also:black, beautifully glossed or bronzed. But this saturation, so to speak, of See also:colour only lasts in the individual for a few years, and as the birds grow older they become mottled with See also:white, though as long as their reproductive power lasts they " breed true." The amount of variation in domestic ducks, however, is not comparable to that found among pigeons, no doubt from the See also:absence of the competition which See also:pigeon-fanciers have so long exercised.

One of the most curious effects of domestication in the duck, however, is, • that whereas the wild mallard is not only strictly monogamous, but, as See also:

Waterton believed, a most faithful See also:husband, remaining paired for life, the civilized drake is notoriously polygamous. Very nearly allied to the common wild duck are a considerable number of species found in various parts of the world in which there is little difference of plumage between the sexes—both being of a dusky hue—such as Anas obscura, the commonest river-duck of See also:America, A. superciliosa of See also:Australia, A. poecilorhyncha of India, A. melleri of See also:Madagascar, A. xanthorhyncha of See also:South See also:Africa, and some others. Among the other genera of Anatinae, we must content our-selves by saying that both in See also:Europe and in North America there are the See also:groups represented by the shoveller, garganey, See also:gadwall, See also:teal, pintail and widgeon—each of which, according to some systematists, is the type of a distinct genus. Then there is the group See also:Aix, with its beautiful representatives the See also:wood-duck (A. sponsa) in America and the See also:mandarin-duck (A. galericulata) in Eastern See also:Asia. Besides there are the sheldrakes (Tadorna), confined to the Old World and remarkably See also:developed in the Australian Region; the See also:musk-duck (Cairina) of South America, which is often domesticated and in that See also:condition ' When ducks breed in trees, the precise way in which the young get to the ground is still a See also:matter of uncertainty. The mother is supposed to convey them in her See also:bill, and most likely does so, but they are often simply allowed to fall.will produce hybrids with the common duck; and finally the tree-ducks (Dendrocygna), which are almost limited to the tropics. (For duck-See also:shooting, see SHOOTING.) (A. N.) 2 (Probably derived from the Dutch doeck, a coarse See also:linen material, cf. Ger. Tuch, See also:cloth), a See also:plain fabric made originally from See also:tow yarns. The cloth is lighter than See also:canvas or See also:sailcloth, and differs from these in that it is almost invariably single in both warp and weft. The term is also used to indicate the colour obtained at a certain See also:stage in the See also:bleaching of See also:flax yarns; it is a colour between See also:half-white and cream, and this fact may have something to do with the name.

Most of the flax ducks (tow yarns) appear in this colour, although quantities are bleached or dyed. Some of the ducks are made from long flax, dyed black, and used for See also:

kit-bags, while the dyed tow ducks may be used for inferior purposes. The fabric, in its various qualities and See also:colours, is used for an enormous variety of purposes, including tents, See also:wagon and motor hoods, See also:light sails, clothing, workmen's overalls, See also:bicycle tubes, See also:mail and other bags and pocketings. See also:Russian duck is a See also:fine white linen canvas.

End of Article: DUCK

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