12 BULLETIN 986, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



entire marsh. It grows usually to a height of from 18 inches to 2 feet 

 or more, according to the locality. The plant has a three-sided stem, 

 from -which sheathlike leaves spring at different levels, and it grows 

 from a bulb as large as a walnut. The head bears from 6 to 20 or 

 more ovate, flat brown or blackish seeds with sharp, pointed tips. 

 These seeds begin to mature in July and August and are a favorite 

 food of ducks, especially of those species known as the shallow- 

 water or river ducks. The stems of the tules themselves are used 

 by hunters in building blinds. During late summer these growths 

 of rushes furnish much of the cover that protects the waterfowl 

 during the molt and later the ducks visit them for food. Most duck 

 stomachs examined contained from one to many of the seeds of this 

 plant. 



Bayonet grass is of great importance as a food supply, as, though 

 many of the seeds drop to the ground in fall, a good proportion 

 remain in the seed heads until the following year and persist in 

 abundance as late as May and the first part of June. In this way 

 they furnish a food supply late in fall when other stocks are sealed 

 with ice, and in spring these seeds again are available to the ducks 

 returning from the south. 



Other plants, also present in abundance, furnish valuable foods for 

 ducks. Samphire or salicornia {Salicornia rubra) covers great areas 

 of otherwise barren flats, and in less saline soils a saltbush known as 

 lamb's-quarters, or duck lettuce (Atriplex hastata), is abundant. 

 In fall the ducks eat the fleshy leaves and stems of these plants to a 

 considerable extent. The seeds of a dock (Rumex crisijus) are 

 relished, as are the seed heads of the abundant salt grass {Distichlis 

 spicata). In very saline waters a musk grass (Chara sp.) and ditch 

 grass {Ruppia occidentalis) , both favored duck foods, are common, 

 and there are a number of other species of plants whose seeds, leaves, 

 or stems are relished which are likewise common though less abundant 

 than those enumerated above. 



A complete list of the plants available as duck foods in this area, 

 with some indication of their occurrence, follows : 



Species Gkowing Submekged. 



Sago ponrlweed (Potamogeton pectinatus) . Abundant. 



Ditch grass {Ruppia occidentalis). Common. 



Musk grass (Chora sp. ). Common. 



Long-leaved pondweed (Potamogeton am eric-anus) . Common near Corinne. 



Floating Plants. 



Duckweed (Lemma sp.). Fairly common in freshwater. 

 Water smartweed (Polygonum amphihium). Fairly common. 

 White water crowfoot ( Batraehutm tricliopliyllum). Fairly common. 



