30 BULLETIN 862, TJ. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Animal Food. 



The 41 cinnamon teals examined had made of animal matter 20.14 

 per cent of their food. This consisted of insects, 10.19 per cent; 

 mollusks, 8.69 per cent; and a few small miscellaneous items, 1.26 

 per cent. 



INSECTS (iNSECTA), 10.19 PER CENT. 



Over half the insect food of the series of cinnamon teals (5.4 per 

 cent of the whole) consisted of beetles (Coleoptera). Disregarding 

 several unidentified fragments, only four families were represented, 

 the predacio N us diving beetles (Dytiscidae), water scavenger beetles 

 (Hydrophilidae), leaf beetles (Chrysomelidae) , and snout beetles 

 (Curculionidae) . 



The bugs (Heteroptera) amounted to 2.97 per cent, and consisted 

 entirely of water boatmen (Corixidae). These are small brown or 

 gray mottled bugs, with oarlike legs well fitted for swimming; they 

 frequent the lakes, ponds, and streams throughout the greater part 

 of North America, and are commonly eaten by many species of water 

 birds. As they are very good swimmers, it must require quick work 

 on the part of the ducks to catch them. They were found in 11 of 

 the 41 stomachs. 



Remains of dragonflies (Anisoptera) were found in two gizzards, 

 and a nymph of a dragonfly or a damselfly in another. The dragon- 

 flies and damselflies (Zygoptera) together constitute the superorder 

 Odonata, which furnished 0.92 per cent of thef ood of the cinnamon teal. 



The flies (Diptera) taken were mostly larvae, and amounted to 

 0.62 per cent. Flies of at least four families — the midges (Chirono- 

 midae), soldierflies (Stratiomyidae), flower flies (Syrphidae), and 

 brine flies (Ephydridae) — were included. A few insect eggs, bits 

 of the cases of caddis larvae (Phryganoidea), two small hymenop- 

 terous cocoons, and the remains of an ant, together amounting to 

 0.28 per cent, made up the remainder of the insect food. 



MOLLUSKS (MOLLUSCA), 8.69 PER CENT. 



Four of the cinnamon teals had fed upon snails and two upon 

 small bivalves, and the stomachs of 15 contained fine fragments 

 which were not classified. Altogether, mollusks amounted to 8.69 

 per cent of the bird's diet, a proportion considerably greater than 

 that of the green- winged teal, but only about half as great as that 

 of the blue-wing. 



MISCELLANEOUS ANIMAL FOOD, 1.26 PER CENT. 



The stomach of a young bird collected near Great Salt Lake, Utah, 

 in July, was half filled with fine feathers. These, together with a few 

 water mites (Ilydrachnidae), bivalved crustaceans (Ostracoda), and 

 a small quantity of unidentified matter from other stomachs, all of 

 which amounted to 1.26 per cent, made up the remainder of the 

 animal food of the species. 



