BIRDS HUNTED FOR FOOD OR SPORT. 75 



which burrow into and undermine the levees and dikes. 

 Examinations of one hundred and twenty-six stomachs of 

 Mallards made at the Biological Survey reveal seventeen 

 per cent, animal food and eighty-three per cent, vegetable. 

 The most important items of the animal food were dragon fly 

 nymphs, fly larvae, grasshoppers, beetles and bugs. Mollusks, 

 earthworms and crustaceans were found. The principal ele- 

 ments of the vegetable food, as found by the experts of the 

 Biological Survey, were the seeds of smartweeds (Polygonum), 

 seeds and tubers of pondweed {Potamogeton) and of sedges. 

 Other items of importance were the seeds of wild rice (Zizania) 

 and other grasses, of burr reed (Sparganium), hornwort (Cera- 

 tophi/Uum) , water shield (Brasenia) and widgeon grass (Ruppia). 

 A great many vegetable substances of less importance were 

 included in the Mallard's diet, of which the following are worthy 

 of note: wild celery, algae, roots of arrowhead (SagiUaria); 

 fruits, such as grapes, dogwood, sour gum and bayberries; and 

 the seeds of such small aquatic plants as millweed {Myrio- 

 phyllum), horned pondweed (Zannickellia) and mermaid-weed 

 (Proserpinaca). 



The Mallard is proverbially fond of grain of all sizes, from 

 Indian corn to wheat or barley; hence the ease with which 

 it may be domesticated, or bred in a semi-wild state for 

 sporting purposes. This adaptability to man's uses makes it 

 economically the most valuable of all Ducks, and a study of 

 its favorite food plants and animals will materially assist 

 those who wish to propagate this bird on preserves. 



When the first edition of this volume was written the 

 Mallard, as stated upon the opposite page, was not known to 

 breed in Massachusetts in the wild state, but the prohibition of 

 spring shooting and the establishment of several game preserves 

 in recent years have combined to induce Mallards to retui-n 

 here and breed. At least one pair hatched young in 1913 

 within the limits of the city of Boston, and Mallards have 

 bred in Barnstable and Hampden counties. It is impossible 

 to determine how many of these birds may have escaped from 

 preserves. In one case a female, crippled by a gunshot wound 

 and unable to fly, attracted a male, and the pair reared a brood. 



