MASON AND LEFROY. 299 



thing, but at the same time, animal food undoubtedly forms the 

 major portion of their diet. S. B. I. D. A., 199. 



The diet includes herbage, worms, molluscs, crustaceans and 

 insects. E. B. C. N. H., 124. 



1603. Marmaronetta angustirostris. Marbled Duck. 



' (Favier.) In Tangiers they feed on winged insects ; in 

 Bind the major portion of their food consists of leaves, shoots, 

 rootlets, corms and seeds of aquatic plants, intermingled with 

 worms, fresh- water shells, insects of all kinds and their larvae." 

 Frog ? H. M G. B. Ill, 239. 



" Its food is practically omnivorous/' S. B. I. D. A., 205. 



Netta. Teal feed chiefly at night on water-plants, seeds, 

 worms and insects. E. B. C. N. H., 126. 



1604. Net'a rufina. Red-crested Pochard. 



Although mainly vegetarians, they indulge more in animal 

 food than the Pochard. I have found small frogs, fish spawn, 

 shells, both land and water, insects, grubs, and on three or four 

 occasions tiny fish, mixed with the vegetable matter, sand and 

 pebbles that their stomachs contained. Usually at least two- 

 thirds of their food is vegetable, leaves, stems ; fleshy rhizomes, 

 rootlets, etc., of arrow-grasses, Sagittarias, Horn-worts, and the 

 like ; but at times they feed largely on the animal substances 

 above enumerated, and I examined one male that had entirely 

 gorged itself on fishes about an inch in length/' They graze, 

 and pick up small shells and insects at the water's edge. H. M. 

 G. B. Ill, 258. 



Its food is chiefly vegetable, though it feeds largely on 

 insects, worms, frogs and fish. F. I. IV, 458. 



In the centre of huge bhils, '' feeding on and amongst the 

 aquatic plants, especially on a long trailing, moss-like weed which 

 grew several feet under water. Moreover, I have found in their 

 stomachs the roots of plants which do not grow except in fairly 

 deep water." Food mostly aquatic, yet they have been known 

 to feed on young crops on dry land. Naturally they are principally 



