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Indian Runners (''Anas platyrhynchos domesticus'') are an unusual breed of domestic duck. They stand erect like penguins and, rather than waddling, they run. The females usually lay about 150 – 200 eggs a year or more, depending whether they are from exhibition or utility strains. They were found on the Indonesian islands of Lombok, Java and Bali where they were 'walked' to market and sold as egg-layers or for meat. These ducks do not fly and only rarely form nests and incubate their own eggs. They run or walk, often dropping their eggs wherever they happen to be. Duck-breeders need to house their birds overnight or be vigilant in picking up the eggs to prevent them from being taken by other animals. The ducks vary in weight between 1.4 and 2.3 kg (3-5 lbs). Their height (from crown to tail tip) ranges from 50 cm (20 inches) in small females to about 76 cm (30 inches) in the taller males. The eggs are often greenish-white in color, but these too vary. Drakes have a small curl on the tip of their tails, while hens have flat tails. You cannot tell their sex until they are fully mature. They often swim in ponds and streams, but they are likely to be preoccupied foraging in grassy meadows for worms, slugs, even catching flies. They appreciate open spaces but are happy in gardens from which they cannot fly and where they make much less noise than call ducks. Only females quack and drakes are limited to a hoarse whisper. Compared to big table ducks, they eat less grain and pellet supplements. When they are young, they eat rocks to form their gizzard which helps them digest their food. They do not have teeth, so they must have water to soften food. ==Origins of the breed== The Indian Runner ducks are domesticated waterfowl that live in the archipelago of the East Indies. There is no evidence that they came originally from India itself. Attempts by British breeders at the beginning of the twentieth century to find examples in the subcontinent had very limited success. Like many other breeds of waterfowl imported into Europe and America, the term 'Indian' may well be fanciful, denoting a loading port or the transport by 'India-men' sailing ships of the East India Company. Other misnamed geese and ducks include the African goose, the black East Indian duck and the Muscovy duck. The Runner became popular in Europe and America as an egg-laying variety towards the end of the nineteenth century largely as a result of an undated pamphlet called ''The India Runner: its History and Description'' published by John Donald of Wigton between 1885〔Edward Brown, ''Poultry Breeding and Production'', Vol. 3, 1929〕 and 1890.〔J.A.Coutts, ''The Indian Runner Duck'', 1927〕 Donald's publication is advertised briefly in ''The Feathered World'', 1895, under the title of "The Indian Runner Duck". Donald describes the pied variety and gives the popular story of the importation into Cumbria (Northwest England) by a sea captain some fifty years earlier. The breed is unusual not only for its high egg production but also for its upright stance and variety of color genes, some of which are seen in seventeenth century Dutch paintings.〔By the d’Hondecoeter family and others. See the Indian Runner Duck Association web-site: ()〕 Other references〔By Darwin (1868), Zollinger (''Journal of the Indian Archipelago'', 1851) and Wallace (''The Malay Archipelago'', 1856 note)〕 to such domestic ducks use the names 'Penguin Ducks' and 'Baly Soldiers'. Harrison Weir's ''Our Poultry'' (1902) describes the Penguin Ducks belonging to Mr Edward Cross in the Surrey Zoological Gardens between 1837-38. These may well have been imported by the 13th Earl of Derby.〔By Pro. Dr.Wolfgang Rudolph, Indian Runner Duck Association Year Book〕 Darwin describes them (1868) as having elongated 'femur and meta-tarsi', contrary to Tegetmeier’s assertions.〔Tegetmeier, ''The Poultry Book'' (1867), which emphasizes the 'extreme shortness of the femora'.〕 The Cumbrian importations, according to Matthew Smith in 1923,〔In Coutts (1927)〕 included completely fawn Runners and completely white Runners as well as the pied (fawn-and-white and grey-and-white) varieties. The most successful attempt to import fresh blood lines was by Joseph Walton between 1908 and 1909. Accounts of these ventures can be found in Coutts (1927) and Ashton (2002). Walton shipped in birds from Lombok and Java, revolutionizing the breeding stock which, according to Donald, had become badly mixed with local birds.〔John Donald, ''The India Runner: its History and Description'' (1885-90): ‘very few of the original type are now to be found.〕 Further importations by Miss Chisholm and Miss Davidson in 1924 and 1926〔See Ashton (2002) pp.105-122.〕 continued to revive the breed. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Indian Runner duck」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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