STORY ABOUT DUCKS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 June 1939, Page 6

STORY ABOUT DUCKS

INCIDENT iAT “SEVEN OAKS.” BIRDS THAT REFUSED DOMESTIC DUTIES. A story of some interest relating to paradise ducks is told by Mr T. Cripps, of Kirton Street, Masterton. When he was a youth at “Seven Oaks,” near Tinui, his father’s property was visited by a pair of paradise ducks during the winter months for several years in succession. These birds always frequented the paddocks not far from the house, though they always went away to nest. Towards Christmas every year, they were seen to come down the creek with a brood of ten or twelve ducklings, and it was said that the old birds took their young to the mouth of the Whareama river to rear them. After the young ones had been successfully launched upon the world, the adults returned to the paddocks of “Seven Oaks” to spend the winter. In 1875, Mr Cripps stated, the birds commenced to build a nest on his people’s property. It was a long time before the nest could be found. It was located at last in a hole in the bank of a creek, about six or 'seven feet above the water. The old bird used to fly low over the water and then swoop upward to the nest. After enlarging the hole, .Mr Cripps was able to crawl in head first and secure the eggs, ten in number. These were placed under a hen, and all the eggs hatched. His sister reared the young ones, and she could do almost anything with them. Out of the ten there were only two drakes, and of the eight ducks, one died. The two drakes paired off with two of the ducks and disappeared. But said Mr Cripps, the most interesting point was this; that the seven remaining ducks obsolutely refused to have anything to do with paradise drakes that courted them nor did they ever lay any eggs. In one year there were as many as seven drakes hoping to find a mate, but the ducks froze them off. The same thing happened year after year. The ducks built nests, but never laid any eggs.