SAFE AND ATTRACTIVE PRESERVES 27 



wild ducks amounts to much, but it is not possible to say what 

 damage large flocks of ducks on a preserve, of the kind you 

 advocate, might do if the ponds on the preserve contained an 

 abundance of game fish. 



"The ducks valued as game (mallard, redhead, ruddy, scaups 

 or bluebills, canvas back, teal, etc.), feed almost entirely on 

 vegetation, along with occasional snails, worms, etc., and on 

 organisms found in mud, and would not feed on fishes to any 

 extent, even when other feed was scarce, as they are not adapted 

 to that sort of food. The 'sawbills,' or fish ducks, feed on fishes, 

 and so does the hell-diver (grebe or dabchick), which, however, 

 is not a duck at all. The grebes are not numerous enough to 

 do much harm. 



"As to fishes eating ducks, the pike would commit consider- 

 able devastation where ducklings were available, so would 

 snapping turtles, their worst enemies."* 



It is highly important that the place where wild ducks 

 are to be reared, either by hand or in a wild state, pref- 

 erably in both ways, should be safe and attractive. 



A place may be said to be safe when no intruders are 

 permitted to approach it, either men or the natural and 

 domestic enemies of game, which are discussed in an- 

 other chapter. 



It is a well known fact that wild ducks are exceedingly 

 fond of certain kinds of food, especially wild rice, wild 

 celery, wapato, a bulb-like root, fox-tail grass, and vari- 

 ous duck weeds and aquatic plants. As stated in the 

 letter of the United States Fish Commissioner, quoted 

 above, the ducks also feed on organisms found in mud, 

 and for this reason muddy ponds are attractive, as all 

 sportsmen know. 



It is not so generally known, but nevertheless an im- 

 portant fact, that wild ducks need cover, almost if not 

 quite as much as quail, grouse and other true game birds 



*The Amateur Sportsman. 



