12 BULLETIN 862, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Several "widgeons" shot on the shores of Long Island Slough, south- 

 western "Washington, had eaten considerable quantities of the leaves 

 and rootstocks of eelgrass (Zostera marina), a few of the stomachs 

 containing no other food. 



GRASSES (GRAMINEAE), 13.9 PER CENT. 



The principal grasses taken were switchgrass (Panicum spp.), by 

 11 widgeons, wild rice (Zizania palustris), by 5, and saltgrass 

 (DisticJdis spicata), by 5; rangegrass (Panicum obtusion), a little bar- 

 ley (Hordeum pusillum), and cultivated rice (Oryza sativa) were eaten 

 by one each; and in 16 stomachs were grasses which were not identi- 

 fied. Six full stomachs collected in south central Louisiana in March 

 contained practically nothing besides the remains of tender young 

 shoots of switchgrass. Several from other localities were filled with 

 grass fibers and root stocks, and some contained grass seeds. One 

 from Oregon held more than 1,200 seeds of switchgrass in addition 

 to about 2,800 seeds of another grass which was not determined. 

 The only cultivated grain found was a small quantity of rice taken 

 from a stomach collected in Louisiana in January, when the grain 

 could hardly have been anything but waste. The widgeon has been 

 accused of doing considerable damage to fields of growing grain in 

 spring, but such complaints are not borne out hj the present investi- 

 gation. It is very probable that flocks of the ducks do some little 

 harm in this way, but such depredations are the exception rather 

 than the rule. 



ALGAE, 7.71 PER CENT. 



Algae, consisting chiefly of musk grass, were found in the stomachs 

 of 25 baldpates. More than two-thirds of this food was taken during 

 the months of April and September, by ducks shot in Wisconsin, 

 Michigan, and Minnesota, probably in migration. 



SEDGES (CYPERACEAE), 7.41 PER CENT. 



The sedges do not play so important a part in the food of the 

 baldpate as with the gadwall and several other ducks, probably be- 

 cause the seeds are the only parts usually eaten, and this duck evi- 

 dently cares little for seeds. The sedges eaten hy the baldpate were: 

 Three-square (Scirpus americanus), by 37; prairie bulrush (S. palu- 

 dosus), 12; river bulrush (S. fluviatilis), 5; unidentified bulrushes 

 (Scirpms spp.), 24; spike rush (EleocTiaris sp.), 19; chufa (Cyperus sp.), 

 5; saw grass (Cladium effusum and 0. mariscoides) , 6; sedges of the 

 genus Car ex, 12; Fimbristylis, 4; and unidentified sedges, by 20. 

 One duck shot in Chihuahua, Mexico, had swallowed no less than 

 64,000 seeds of spike rush. As a rule the baldpate does not take 

 sedge seeds freely where pondweeds and other aquatic plants with 

 tender foliage are available. 



