UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



i BULLETIN No. 720 |^ft 



JSA |>So< fg? rnntribution from the Bureau of Biological Survey. «3 



Contribution from the Bureau of Biological Survey. 

 E. W. NELSON, Chief. 



J!\^^\.r<^ 



Washington, D. C. 



PROFESSIONAL PAPER. 



December 23, 1918 



FOOD HABITS OF THE MALLARD DUCKS OF THE 

 UNITED STATES. 



By W. L. McAtee, Assistant Biologist. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Introduction , 1 



Mallard 2 



Blackduck. 10 



Southern black duet 



Items of vegetable food identified. 

 Items of animal food identified 



INTRODUCTION. 



A knowledge of the natural feeding habits of mallard ducks is of 

 value in connection with the propagation of the species in a semi- 

 domesticated condition, as these ducks are used more commonly for 

 this purpose than are any others. It is especially useful also in rela- 

 tion to the improvement of bodies of water and marshes as feeding 

 grounds for wild ducks.^ 



The wild ducks ordinarily occurring within the United States are 

 at present considered to represent 39 species, distributed among 22 

 genera. They are divided into three groups: The mergansers 

 (Merginse), known also as fish ducks, or sawbills; the river ducks 

 (Anatinse), also called shoal-water, puddle, or tipping ducks; and the 

 sea ducks (Fuligulinee), also called deep-water, or diving ducks. 

 Although food preferences vary in each of these groups, those of the 

 mallards are fairly representative of their group — the river ducks. 

 The mallard genus, Anas, comprises three species which are among 



1 For specific information on this topic see Bull. 205, U. S. Dept. Agr., Eleven Important Wild-Duck 

 Foods, in which are discussed musk grass, duckweeds, frogbit, thaUa, water elm, swamp privet, eflgrass, 

 widgeon-grass, watercress, waterweed, and coontail; pp. 25, figs. 23, May 20, 1915; also Bull. 465, Propagar 

 tion of WUd-Duck Foods, in which are discussed wild rice, wild celerv. jDondweeds, delta potato, wapato, 

 chufa, wild millet, and banana waterlily; pp. 40, figs 35, feDruary 23, 1917. 



Note. — This bulletin presents a technical study of the food habits of three species of mallard ducks: The 

 mallard, the black duck, and the southern black duck. The vegetable food preferences exhibited will serve 

 as a guide to certain wild-duck foods that may be propagated when it is sought to increase the numbers of 

 these valuable game ducks, either in the wild state or in domestication. 

 64336°— l&—BuU. 720 1 



