“Three things have done it,” the owner of the place said. “These fields, you see, were worthless to me for planting purposes. But ducks have always come here. At a small expense, I arranged to have the fields hold water when once the water had flowed over them. A duck isn’t going to light on dry land, not if there’s water within reach of his wings. The third thing was the matter of feed. I went to Washington, D. C., and spent two or three days at the Department of Agriculture finding out just what wild food would grow here, things that the ducks liked best. They recommended to me duck oats, water lilies, and the American lotus. This last is probably the most successful food I have tried. The bloom has a seed-'holding disk like a sun-flower. The seeds themselves are like hard black acorns, and the ducks are very fond of them.
“这种景象由三种因素造成,”土地所有者表示。“你看，如果是为了种植，这些土地是没有价值的。但鸭子总是来这儿。我花了很少的钱就能在田地固水。一只鸭子是不会在陆地上的，如果它的翅膀够得着水的话。第三件事是饲料问题。我去了华盛顿特区。他花了两三天时间在农业部研究这里会种什么野生食物，鸭子最喜欢吃的东西。他们向我推荐燕麦片、睡莲和美洲莲。最后一种可能是我尝试过的最成功的食物。花朵有一个像太阳花一样的种子托盘。种子本身就像坚硬的黑橡子，鸭子很喜欢它们。
“Yes, these old fields were worthless, but in these days there is no such thing as waste land if a man will turn over to wild things those parts of his lands which he cannot use himself. And if he will encourage the wild life just a little, he will have it coming in abundance. Reasonable quiet and protection, water, food — get these three things in this part of the country, and you will have all the ducks you want.”
“对，这些老田本来毫无用处，但如今，如果人类不把自己不能使用的土地交给野生动物，就不会有荒野这样的地方饿了。如果能给野生动物一点鼓励，那么就会有大量的野生动物出现。合理的安静和保护、水、食物——在这个地区得到这三样东西，你就会得到你想要的所有鸭子。”
