VOL. Iv. | Food of Birds. 55 
MALLARD. Anas boschas. Four specimens examined from 
Suisun marshes. @. Small univalve shellsin gullet, 64, Bearded 
barley and barley heads. c. Small, sprouted seeds. 4d. Half a 
teacupful of barnacles in the gullet. 
GapwaLL. Azas strepera. Small seeds and sand in the 
gizzard. 
SurF ScoTER. Ozdemia perspicillata, The gullet of one shot 
in the water near the edge of a marsh was so full of small crabs 
that they fell from the mouth when the bird was picked up. 
Small crabs and mussels form a considerable portion of the food 
of this species. I have eaten these birds, but do not care for 
them often. It is difficult to disguise the peculiarity of flavor. 
BLack Branv. Branta nigricans. All of those which I have 
examined came from Humboldt Bay, and had been feeding entirely 
upon ‘‘eel grass,’’ or “ribbon grass (Zostera marina), and 
were extremely fat. 
CALIFORNIA CLAPPER Ratt. allus obsoletus. In the gullet 
of a bird shot on a salt marsh, near an artesian well, was a good- 
sized frog. 
NorTHERN PHALAROPE. Phalaropus lobatus. A number which 
were collected from tide pools of a salt marsh had been eating 
small insects and small worms. Wilson’s Phalarope (P. ¢ricolor) 
I have observed catching insects from a muddy surface, actually 
stalking them in a partially crouching attitude until near enough 
to dart after them, one at a time. 
CALIFORNIA PARTRIDGE. Callipepla californica. Two males 
which I shot one evening, as they were going to roost for the 
night, after having been feeding on a newly-sown field, contained 
the following, mainly in the crop: 4. Two hundred and ten 
whole grains of barley, six pieces of broken barley, three grains 
of ‘‘cheat,” and one of wheat, besides a few barley hulls, some 
clover leaves and alfilaria. 4. One hundred and eighty-five 
whole grains of barley, five broken pieces, four grains of ‘* cheat,” 
and two of wheat; also barley hulls, clover, and alfilaria. The 
flock numbered nearly or quite twenty birds, and had probally 
