ELEVEN IMPORTANT WILD-DUCK POODS. 6 



shipment they should be packed in small units (as in berry crates) 

 open to the air on all sides. This will prevent fermentation; a little 

 drying will not hurt. If they are to be transported long distances, 

 the package should be iced. For planting, bunches of the plant may 

 be weighted and dropped to the bottom. Growth should appear the 

 following summer. Musk grasses will grow on almost any kind of 

 bottom, but it must be remembered that they will not thrive perma- 

 nently in the absence of lime. 



DUCKWEEDS. 



VALUE AS DUCK FOOD. 



Duckweeds are abundant only under special conditions, but these 

 conditions exist in some of the favorite haunts of our wild ducks. 

 In the still recesses of southern cypress swamps, where duckweeds 

 cover the entire water surface, these plants contribute to the support 

 of all species of wild ducks. A statement of the duckweed content 

 of two lots of stomachs collected at Menesha, Ark., in November and 

 December will serve to show the importance of these plants in that 

 locality. In the first lot were .8 mallards, and duckweeds composed 

 an average of more than 62 per cent of their stomach contents. The 

 proportion in other species was as follows: Spoonbill (1 stomach), 

 55 per cent; redhead (10), 50.3 per cent; and little bluebill (6), 8.33 

 per cent. In the second lot were 64 mallards, and they had eaten 

 duckweeds to the average extent of more than 49 per cent. Fifteen 

 ringnecks had consumed on the average 21.7 per cent each, and two 

 wood ducks, 95 per cent. In the woodland ponds also of the North- 

 ern States duckweeds abound. Here in the breeding season the wood 

 duck still manifests its preference for these little plants. Some 

 stomachs are filled exclusively with them, thousands being present. 



Duckweeds are relished by most of our ducks and have been 

 found in the stomachs of the following species additional to those 

 above mentioned: Pintail, gadwell, black duck, wigeon, blue-winged 

 and green-winged teals, and big bluebill. As duckweeds sink at the 

 approach of cold weather, they are available in the North during only 

 the warmer months. In the South, however, they remain at the 

 surface practically all the year. 



DESCRIPTION OF PLANTS. 



The duckweeds most commonly seen are the green disks (some- 

 times more or less tailed on one side, fig. 2, a, h, c, d) which cover the 

 surface of quiet and usually shaded waters. These disks are really 

 leaves, the plants being reduced to a leaf, with one or a few roots on 

 the under side. Duckweeds multiply largely by budding, and the 

 parent plant and offsets often cling together in clusters. Individual 

 plants vary in size from one-twelfth to three-fourths of an inch in 

 diameter. 



