580 



GAME BIRDS. WILD-FOWL AND SHORE BIRDS. 



eradicates duck food and should never be introduced any- 

 where. It may be exterminated in small ponds by screening 

 outlets and inlets and draining the ponds dry. In large lakes 

 its extermination is impracticable. 



In the western States the wappato is considered among the 

 best of duck foods. It is a tuber-bearing plant, and although 

 I have never had an opportunity to identify the western plant, 

 this name is given to Sagittaria latifolia, an arrow-head or 

 arrow wort. This and Sagittaria teres are found in ponds of 

 Massachusetts, and probably are quite as attractive as a duck 



Fig. 26. — Tubers of sago pondweed. (Natural size.) (From Circular No. 81, Bureau of 

 Biological Survey, United States Department of Agriculture.) 



food as is S. latifolia in the west. The Indians of Oregon use 

 the tubers as food. 



Mr. McAtee has identified for Dr. J. C. Phillips another 

 duck food which grows in Wenham Lake, and which proves 

 to be quillwort {Isoetes echinospora) . 



Smartweeds {Polygonum) are eaten by many wild-fowl, 

 and certain water grasses are favorite foods of some species. 

 Mr. Wilton Lockwood, who has had much experience in rear- 

 ing wild-fowl, recommends Poa aquatica, a European plant 

 which grows naturally here. Probably Glyceria grandis, the 

 reed meadow grass, which somewhat resembles P. aqiiatica, 

 would be equally attractive. It grows along the banks of 

 streams and in wet meadows. 



Wild Geese eat the roots of certain reeds and are very 



