V-B-21 



Glasgow, L.L., and H.A. Junca. 1962. Mallard foods in southwest Louisiana, 

 Louisiana Academy of Sciences 25:63-74. 



Data for this report were obtained during a study of the nutrient 

 content of mallard foods in southwest Louisiana. The common mallard 

 ( Anas platyrhynchos platyrhyncos) is not only the most widely distrib- 

 uted duck in the northern hemisphere, but also the most abundant 

 species. The mallard is the most important wild waterfowl in the 

 hemisphere, and is the preferred duck of waterfowl hunters. 



Grasses provided mallards with most of their food (98 percent) 

 during the winter of 1960-1961 in southwestern Louisiana. The most 

 important species were millets, fall panicum, paspalums, giant fox- 

 tail, bagscale, and domestic rice. Smartweeds provided a reason- 

 able amount of food, sedges a small amount, and all other plants 

 insignificant amounts. 



Animal matter, which made up less than 2 percent of the total 

 food, was composed of snails, crustaceans, insects, spiders, clams, 

 amphibians, fish, and leeches. (B.W.) 



Keywords: mallards, marsh grasses, food habits, Louisiana 



V-B-22 



Glasgow, L.L., and J.L. Bardwell. 1962. Pintail and teal foods in 

 south Louisiana. Proceedings of the sixteenth annual conference 

 of the Southeastern Association of Game and Fish Commissioners, 

 pp. 175-184. 



Most previous waterfowl food-habits studies indicate that the sedge 

 family is the most important contributor to duck diets on the Gulf 

 Coast. Results of this study show that in the area sampled, the grass 

 family is far more important than the sedge family, providing about 

 95 percent of the pintail food and 90 percent of the teal food. 

 The sedge family was unimportant to pintails and was of minor importance 

 to teals. Other plant families provided very small quantities of 

 food. 



Based on the quantities of seed found in this study, duck food 

 producing plants are ranked in the following order. 



Pintail Teal 



1. Fall panicum 1. Fall panicum 



2. Brownseed paspalum 2. Sprangletop 



3. Walter's millet 3. Flatsedge, fragrant 



4. Bagscale grass 4. Giant foxtail 



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