Partridges And Wild Ducks Bred By Hamilton Plumber

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31239, 10 December 1966, Page 24

Partridges And Wild Ducks Bred By Hamilton Plumber

‘‘The Press” Special Service HAMILTON, December 9. Partridges are being successfully bred by a Hamilton plumber, Mr J. A. Worth, who has a seven-acre property on the fringe of the city at Ruakura. Partridges are not the only birds on Mr Worth’s property. He has also bred 24 wild ducklings this year and the first teal believed to have been bred in captivity in New Zealand. People who know Mr Worth’s interest keep bringing him abandoned eggs from nests disturbed by farm machinery or where a mother has been killed. Mr Worth, whose name is well known in the sport of rowing, has a particular interest in wild life and is one of three enthusiasts who, through the Auckland Acclimatisation Society, are breeding partridges in the Waikato. The society has released more than 7000 partridges since the Department of Internal Affairs received the first partridge eggs from Denmark for breeding purposes in 1959.

The department hopes to establish the partridge as a game bird in. New Zealand. Batches of up to 100 have

been released in many parts of the North Island over the last few years. Mr Worth has seven, pairs of adult birds, three of which are laying fertile eggs. He has 140 eggs at present and 16 partridges have hatched out. Only one has died. The chicks in attractive comfortable houses that can be shifted to different locations, spend most of their time under warming lamps. They are fed, at first, on mashes and they like slaters. These Mr Worth provides by laying wood on the ground and later shaking off and catching the slaters. The chicks also have hardboiled eggs—boiled for 20 minutes, and finely minced. Recently nine eggs were left on the doorstep with a note to say they had been found in a dead tree. They were hatched out by a bantam and proved to be teal. L. Seven survived and it is believed that these teal, now six weeks old, are the first to be bred in captivity in New Zealand.

The wildlife division of the Department of Internal Affairs has first call on these birds, but the Auckland Acclimatisation Society hopes that

it will be able to retain some of them to keep for its wildlife displays at agricultural and pastoral shows throughout the country. Mr Worth said he would like to know who brought the teal eggs as they were a rare find. A banded teal was recovered from the Whangamarino swamps in 1959. It had flown from Australia. Mr Worth has also bred 24 wild ducklings of various breeds from eggs brought to his home this year. The ducklings are in large pens in grassy paddocks. Guinea fowl, black swan, paradise ducks and pheasants also roam the property.