Call duck

The Call is a historic breed of small domestic duck.^[9][10][11] It is believed to have originated in the Netherlands, where the earliest descriptions and depictions of it date from the seventeenth century. It is similar in appearance to some other breeds of duck, but is much smaller, with a round head and very short bill. Ducks, but not drakes, are very loquacious and noisy, with a piercing high-pitched call that can be heard from far away and from which the name derives.^{[12]: 88 [13][14]: 157}

Call

Conservation status	FAO (2007): not at risk[1]: 141  DAD-IS (2022): at risk[2] SZH (2022): threatened[3]
Other names	Call Duck
Distribution	Ireland Netherlands United Kingdom[2]
Use	ornament showing
Traits
Colour	about twenty recognised colours[4][5]
Classification
APA	[6]: 18
EE	no[7]
PCGB	[8]
Duck Anas platyrhynchos domesticus

At a show

The Call was in the past used as a decoy duck to attract wild ducks into traps.

History

Adult drake

The first recorded mentions of the breed are from the Netherlands where it was used as a decoy and known as a coy or decoy duck. The high-pitched distinctive call was used to lure other ducks into funnel traps. Later, hunters would tether call ducks to draw other species within range. It is believed to have originally come from the Far East, although no records of its introduction to the Netherlands exist. Other bantam breeds are known to have been imported to the Netherlands in the seventeenth century and Van Gink, writing in The Feathered World in 1932, supposes "There is a possibility that importations were made by Dutch captains from Japan ... especially as the Call Duck's type is very different from the ordinary European type of duck to sport from it, and since they breed so true they must be a very old-established breed."

The Call was present in the British Isles by the mid-nineteenth century; an early description is that of James Joseph Nolan, published in Dublin in 1850.^[14]: 157 It was among the four breeds of duck included in the first poultry standard – the Standard of Excellence of William Bernhardt Tegetmeier – in 1865.^[15]: 54

Characteristics

The Call is small, with an average weight of approximately 800 g; drakes may weigh up to 100 g more, and ducks up to 100 g less.^[4]

In the Netherlands about twenty colours are recognised;^[4] about the same number are recognised by the British Waterfowl Association and the Poultry Club of Great Britain in the United Kingdom.^{[5][16]: 410 [a]} In the United States the grey and white varieties were included in the first Standard of Perfection of the American Poultry Association in 1874; six other colours were added between 1977 and 2007.^[6]

Australian Call Duck

In the second edition of the Australian Poultry Standards, published in 2011, the Australian Call Duck is described as a separate breed from the Call Duck of Europe, with a different range of plumage colours and a rather larger body size. It is claimed that it developed in South Australia as a mutation in the domestic mallard.^[17][18]

Notes

1. These include: abacot, Appleyard, apricot, apricot Appleyard (butterscotch), apricot silver, bibbed, black, blue fawn, blue silver, chocolate, chocolate mallard, chocolate silver, dark silver, dusky mallard, khaki (dusky chocolate mallard), magpie, mallard, pied, silver, white and yellow belly.^[16]: 410