NATURAL FOODS OF WILD DUCKS 43 



only to attract migratory fowl, but also they will reduce 

 the grain bill. 



I recently saw hundreds of mallards on a New Jersey 

 preserve feeding on acorns which had fallen in a road 

 and on the lawn which bordered an artificial pond, and 

 I have often shot mallards, wood-ducks and other river 

 ducks, or dabblers, in the Central and Western States 

 when they were feeding on acorns and other mast. 



On the Pacific coast the wapato is a favorite food for 

 wild ducks, and it has been successfully introduced in 

 ponds and lakes where wild ducks are properly looked 

 after. I am not aware of any dealer who handles this 

 plant or if it has been used anywhere in the Eastern 

 States. Mr. W. A. Howe, of Carleton, Oregon, who 

 owns a small farm, which has a small lake thirty acres 

 in extent, formerly fed the wild ducks with wheat and 

 in this way secured some very good shooting. In writ- 

 ing to The Amateur Sportsman he said: "We have 

 given up using wheat, as a few years ago I planted the 

 lake with wapato, a native bulb which thrives in all 

 lakes in this vicinity and of which the ducks are very 

 fond. In this way we have plenty of ducks for all rea- 

 sonable shooting and, of course, at a much less expense. 

 I do not know how the wapato would stand transporta- 

 tion. The bulb resembles a small onion and grows 

 freely in this country in muddy ponds and swales where 

 there is a foot or so of water." 



Mr. Howe informs me also that the carp, which were 

 introduced by the United States Fish Commissioners, 

 have entirely destroyed the wapato in many waters. 

 This undesirable fish also has destroyed the wild rice 

 in the Sandusky marshes, Ohio, and in many other 



