. Birds of Massachusetts and other New England states. Birds; Birds. MERGANSERS 175 The business of rearing ducks for sporting purposes is a large one in the British Isles and employs many gamekeepers. In the United States many wild ducks are now reared and sold, but as a business this has not proceeded much beyond the experimental stage. All domesticated ducks and geese are descended from a few wild species. The rearing of domesticated ducks and geese for the market is a business which amounts to millions of dollars annually and will increase as population increases. The eggs and the flesh of
. Birds of Massachusetts and other New England states. Birds; Birds. MERGANSERS 175 The business of rearing ducks for sporting purposes is a large one in the British Isles and employs many gamekeepers. In the United States many wild ducks are now reared and sold, but as a business this has not proceeded much beyond the experimental stage. All domesticated ducks and geese are descended from a few wild species. The rearing of domesticated ducks and geese for the market is a business which amounts to millions of dollars annually and will increase as population increases. The eggs and the flesh of ducks and geese form a large part of the annual poultry product from which the people of the world derive a portion of their food. Wild ducks are destructive to certain insect pests such as locusts and army worms, and domesticated ducks in large numbers have been utilized to keep such pests in check. Ducks are very destructive to mosquito larvse, eating them in untold numbers. Mos- quitoes carry the germs of such diseases as malaria and yellow fever and with these germs infect human beings. These diseases cause the death of many people, also a great eco- nomic loss of labor, owing to intermittent illness. Millions of dollars are thus lost to the world every year. Wild ducks, if in sufficient numbers, greatly reduce the mosquito pest. Subfamily MERGIN2E. Mergansers. Number of species in North America 4; in Massachusetts 3. This family comprises a small group of fish-eating ducks having the bill constructed especially for seizing and holding living, active and slippery prey. The mandibles are narrow and slender as compared with those of other ducks, the nail at the tip of the upper mandible overhanging and the lamellae modified into tooth-like projections, sharp pointed and often turned backward like the teeth of a shark. (See figure.) The ducklike. Bill of Merganser form is modified to give exceptional ability to pursue fish under water. The feet are placed farther back than in
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Keywords: ., bookauthorforb, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectbirds
