ADAPTATION OF FOODS TO SOIL, ETC. 9 
The divers take the initial step, for they will not 
remain around shallow water; even if a few deep ponds 
or lakes remain and still retain some of their favorite 
food, it is generally insufficient for their respective 
wants. In former days the water may have been too 
deep for their food to grow in, and although the water 
has probably fallen to a proper depth, the food germs, 
rootlets, bulbs, etc., may not be there owing to the 
soil not being adapted to their growth. Many fine 
pieces of water can be found where ducks may con- 
stantly be observed flying over, skimming the surface 
Gr occasionally alighting during the day, still they do 
not evince any disposition to stay owing to the fact 
there is very little food to be found, or, possibly, none 
at all. The reason may be a bare clayey or stony bot- 
tom, that would interfere with food growth; or, per- 
haps, if the conditions should be favorable in having 
gravel, mud or other suitable bottom, which soil could 
and would produce a fine harvest of duck food accept- 
able to both divers and non-divers according to its 
depth, alas! the seed roots, bulbs and germs are want- 
ing. Possibly the surrounding banks are devoid oi 
canes, rushes, wild rice or barley, or the common 
crop of grasses and sedge which usually fringes such 
places is absent—destroyed by dryness of the banks, 
prairie fires or the plow—and what was once a favorite 
spot has become barren through the march of civiliza- 
tion. 
The non-divers remain the longer of the two, es- 
pecially the bluewinged teals, spoonbills, green- 
winged, with the mallards and pintails, especially if 
there are plenty of grain or corn fields in the vicinity; 
