The maned goose or the wood duck which is their common name <br />For creatures born in the wild at times they seem quite tame <br />If they have not been shot at they lose most of their fear <br />And they will only fly off if you come very near. <br /> <br />The female wood duck lay her eggs in hole in rotting tree <br />And in the middle days of spring in the paddock you see <br />Her with her little ducklings too young as yet to fly <br />But they feel safe from danger with dam or lake nearby. <br /> <br />Along with chestnut teal and black duck their numbers multiply <br />And farmer feels unhappy 'far too many ducks he sigh' <br />The dam water for my cattle by ducks fouled muddy gray <br />And Shooting Season should be all year round he has been known to say. <br /> <br />But wood duck were in Australia long before first white man came <br />And the Aboriginals knew them by perhaps some other name <br />And if duck shooting was extended to twelve months of the year <br />Then wood duck like other species would also disappear <br /> <br />With dark brown head and dark stripe on back and mostly blue to gray <br />The country person see them in the paddocks every day <br />And if they've not been shot at they lose most natural fear <br />And they will only fly off if to them you come near.<br /><br />Francis Duggan<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-australian-wood-duck/
