PROPAGATING NEW GROUNDS, ETC. 67 
The duckweed family, also furnishes seed from the 
following plants: Lemma trisulca, L. minor, L. per- 
pusilla, L. Valdiviana. The water plantain, Alisma 
plantago, together with the pondweed family, Potamo- 
geton vasivi, P. notaus, P. Pennsylvanicus, P. [llinoin- 
sis. These are the principal foods sought after, al- 
though they feed upon many ot the non-divers’ foods, 
in the same manner that the non-divers feed upon 
some of the seeds relished by the divers. Small 
tishes, shellfish, such as snails, barnacles and mussels, 
as well as frogs, tadpoles, worms, larva of insects and 
other inhabitants of marshy places, are eaten more or 
less during their various stages of development, in dif- 
ferent localities, according to the various species of 
diver’s peculiar taste. 
The principal food of the red-leg mallard in the 
south is the chinquapin acorn, which grows profusely 
in the everglades. The mild water pepper, Polygona- 
cee Hydropiperoides, of the buckwheat family, grows 
in shallow water where there is little current, attaining 
the height of three feet above the surface, its seeds 
shaped like buckwheat and similar in size, is eagerly 
sought for as well as P. hydropiper, common water 
pepper, of a pungent taste. Of the frogbit family H. 
limnobium is a favorite food of all ducks, especially 
the blue-winged and cinnamon teals; it grows pro- 
fusely in ditches and shallow water over the United 
States. Wild rice is so well known as to need but a 
brief mention. Its seeds are eagerly sought by the 
non-divers, and its heavy stalks, whether standing or 
lying upon the surface of the water, afford a feeding 
place and cover hardly excelled. This, with the wild 
