BULLETIN OF THE 



No. 205 



Contribution from the Bureau of Biological Survey, Henry W. Henshaw.Chief 

 May 20, 1915. 



ELEVEN IMPORTANT WILD-DUCK FOODS. 



By W. L. McAtee, Assistant Biologist. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Accounts of the value, nature, range, and methods of propagation 

 of various groups of plants having importance as wild-duck foods 

 are contained in a series of contributions of the Biological Survey- 

 to publications of the Department of Agriculture, of which this bulle- 

 tin is the third. Eleven groups here discussed include 2 assemblages 

 of fresh-water plants of universal distribution in the United States; 

 2 of more southerly range; 2 trees of southern swamps whose abun- 

 dant seeds are eagerly eaten by ducks; 1 strictly salt-water duck 

 food, the first thus far recommended by the bureau; 1 brackish- 

 water plant; and 3 others of such luxuriant growth as to be especially 

 adapted for use on duck farms. 



MUSK GRASSES. 



VALUE AS DUCK FOOD. 



Parts of musk grasses (algse, Characea?) have been found in the 

 stomachs of the following 14 species of ducks: Mallard, black duck, 

 pintail, wigeon, gadwell, green-winged and blue-winged teals, buffle- 

 head, goldeneye, ruddy duck, little and big bluebills, ringneck, and 

 redhead. The small tubers of these plants are eaten in large numbers; 

 more than 1,100 were contained in the stomach of one goldeneye and 

 more than 1,500 in that of a pintail. However, all parts of musk 

 grasses are eaten. Certain ducks spending the late autumn on 

 Currituck Sound, North Carolina, were feeding extensively on these 

 plants. Three-fifths of the food of 70 little and 35 big bluebills taken 

 in that locality in November, 1909, consisted of musk grasses. The 

 stomachs of 3 pintails collected in the same locality in September 

 contained on the average 52 per cent of musk grasses, and of 2 in 

 October, 90 per cent. 



Note. — This bulletin is for general distribution, and shows how 11 groups of plants may be successfully 

 used as food for wild ducks in localities where now unknown, and is the third in a series on this subject, the 

 preceding being Circular 81, Biological Survey, which treated of wild rice, wild celery, and pondweeds; and 

 Bulletin No. 58, Department of Agriculture, which treated of the delta duck potato, wapato, chufa, wild 

 millet, and banana water lily. The groups described in this bulletin are musk grasses, duckweeds, frogbit, 

 thalia, water elm, swamp privet, eel-grass, wigeon-grass, water-cress, water-weed, and coontail. 

 83175°— Bull. 205—15 1 



