234 



, SEA OR DIVING DUCKS 



Nine-tenths of the food of the Redhead is from the vegetable king- 

 dom; this is an appreciably higher percentage of vegetable matter than 

 is consumed by any of the other Diving Ducks. It dives in the deep 



water to obtain the leaves and 

 stems of aquatic plants, and 

 it dabbles with the Surface- 

 feeding Ducks in the shallow 

 marshes to feed on molluscs, 

 grasshoppers, and other in- 

 sects. An examination of the 

 stomach contents of 364 of 

 these ducks, taken in 26 

 States and 5 Canadian Prov- 

 inces, during every month in 

 the year except May and Au- 

 gust, gave the following ap- 

 proximate percentages: pond- 

 weeds, 32; muskgrass, 23; 

 sedges, 8; grasses, 6; wild 

 celery, 3; duckweeds, water 

 lilies, coontail and smart- 

 weeds, 5; miscellaneous plant 

 food, 13; total vegetable food, 

 90 per cent. Insects, 6; mol- 

 luscs and miscellaneous, 4; 

 total animal food, 10 per 

 cent. The entire meal of 

 more than 70 per cent of the 

 birds was plant food and it was found that this species feeds less on buds 

 and tubers than does the Canvas-back, and more on the submerged 

 leaves and stems of aquatic plants. Less than one per cent of the birds 

 examined had fed exclusively on animal food. The highest percentage 

 of animal food was consumed during the winter, from December to 

 February inclusive. Fine gravel formed five per cent of the total stomach 

 content. 



As a desirable table bird, the Redhead, in the opinion of many, 

 ranks as high as the vaunted Canvas-back, and it is a sensitive palate 

 indeed that can choose between choice birds of the two species. The out- 

 standing difference in the food habits of the two ducks is that the Red- 

 head feeds less heavily on wild celery and very much more heavily on 

 the bulblets, stems, and leaves of muskgrass, and its diet is 90 per cent 

 vegetable, while that of the Canvas-back averages 80 per cent plant food. 

 The Redhead never has the fishy flavour which the Canvas-back often 

 acquires through its somewhat different feeding habits. Were it not for 

 the half pound difference in weight, in favour of the Canvas-back, the 

 reputation of the two ducks, gastronomically, might well have been re- 

 versed. As the two species look somewhat alike and many persons can- 

 not distinguish between them, the meat of the Redhead is no doubt fre- 



