Provides an introduction to ducks, explaining why ducks are farmed, looking at the anatomy and life cycles of ducks, describing different breeds, and discussing ducks as sources of eggs, meat, and feathers.
Text and photographs follow a male and female wood duck through their breeding season in Maine as they choose a nesting site in a tree, mate, watch the eggs hatch, and protect and rear their ducklings.
Gertie the hen is appalled when her son Frank wants to swim with the ducks, but Jemima and her mother, the farmer's wife, make the young chick a special outfit so that his dream can come true.
A duck marvels at how wonderful it is to be a duck, with feathers, webbed feet, and wings that can fly, from the time he is hatched until he becomes a dad.