46 NATURAL FOODS OF WILD DUCKS 



"The foregoing are some of the most important duck 

 foods on my preserve and most of which can be readily 

 introduced with a little pains and persistency by anyone 

 who takes the pains and trouble necessary and has the 

 proper sort of environment for these plants to flourish 

 in." 



Mr. Whealton says: "My young and old shovellers 

 will eat all the tadpoles and frogs they can catch, and 

 their greatest activity is shown in the pursuit of such 

 prey. 



"In regard to the food of wild ducks not in captivity, I 

 will state that our bay, Chincoteague Bay, about six miles 

 wide and extending northward over forty miles, has its 

 shallow bottoms covered with various aquatic plants, 

 mostly 'ell grass,' as our people call it, and this is the 

 chief food of our w.ild geese, brant and ducks. The red- 

 heads and scaups feed after the geese to get the grass 

 which the former pull up from the bottom. The black, 

 mallard, sprig-tail and teal eat, in addition to the salt 

 water plants and grasses, or rather, the grasses of the 

 brackish or partly fresh water of the upper bay, the 

 special duck grass that grows in the fresh and partly 

 fresh water ponds of our marshes and on our islands, 

 etc."* 



An English writer recently said that on a large num- 

 ber of estates both in England and in Wales there is 

 swampy land that is useless to the farmer and under 

 its present condition is worse than useless for shooting. 

 This land can be made most valuable to the sporting 



*Letter to the author. Dr. Pierce and Mr. Whealton have had excel- 

 lent opportunities to study the food habits of wild ducks, and I am much 

 indebted to them for assistance in the preparation of this chapter. 



