166 BULLETIN 120, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



nearly as much of the metalhc colors as in the full plumage. The 

 wings are molted only once and are always distinctive ; also the bril- 

 liant colors of the eyes, feet, and bill are retained during the eclipse 

 stage, though they lose a little of their brilliancy. The molt out of 

 the eclipse occurs in August and September; I have seen an adult 

 male in full plumage again as early as September 12 and another 

 that had not finished the molt on October 16. 



Food. — The wood duck obtains most of its food on or above the 

 surface of the water, though it can tip up to feed on shallow bottoms 

 if necessary, and it feeds largely on land. A large part of its food 

 consists of insects which it finds on the surface of the water or on 

 the leaves and stems of aquatic plants, such as beetles, mayflies, 

 locusts, and various creeping insects. Here it also obtains small fish, 

 minnows, frogs, tadpoles, snails, and small salamanders. Nuttall 

 (1834) says: 



I have seen a fine male whose stomach was wholly filled with a mass of the small 

 coleoptera, called Donatias, which are seen so nimbly flying over or resting on the 

 leaves of the pond lily. These birds are therefore very alert in quest of their prey, 

 or they never could capture these wary insects. 



Probably the greater part of the food of the wood duck, during the 

 fall and winter particularly, is vegetable, of which a great variety is 

 consumed. The bulbs of Sagittaria and other water plants, as well 

 as the seeds and leaves of many varieties, are taken wdth the animal 

 food in summer. Later in the season the wild rice marshes are visited 

 and many wild fruits such as grapes and berries are found on dry land. 

 The grain fields are apparently never visited, but the southern rice 

 fields are favorite feeding grounds in fall and winter. The wood duck 

 is particularly fond of acorns, chestnuts, and beechnuts, which it 

 picks up on the ground in the woods, turning over the fallen leaves 

 to find them. Messrs. Beyer, Alhson, and Kopman (1909) state that, 

 in Louisiana, "an undoubted factor in determining the abundance of 

 the wood duck is the presence of the water chinquapin (Nelumhium 

 luteum). As a food of the wood duck the seeds of this plant are 

 extremely important." 



Mr. Douglas C. Mabbot (1920) says of the food of this duck: 



More than nine-tenths (90.19 per cent) of the food of the wood duck consists of 

 vegetable matter. This high proportion of vegetable food is very similar to that taken 

 by the mallard. With the wood duck it is quite evenly distributed among a large 

 number of small items, chief among which are the following: Duckweeds, 10.35 per 

 cent; cypress cones and galls, 9.25; sedge seeds and tubers, 9.14; grasses and grass 

 seeds, 8.17; pondweeds and their seeds, 6.53; acorns and beechnuts, 6.28; seeds of 

 water lilies and leaves of water shield, 5.95; seeds of water elm and its allies 4.75; of 

 smartweeds and docks, 4.74; of coontail 2.86; of arrow arum and skunk cabbage, 2.42; 

 of bur marigold and other composites, 2.38; of buttonbush and allied plants, 2.25; of 

 bur reed, 1.96; wild celery and frogbit, 1.31; nuts of bitter pecan, 0.91; grape seeds, 

 0.82; and seeds of swamp privet and ash, 0.72 per cent. The remaining 9.4 per cent 

 was made up of a large number of minor items. 



