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



Carex were commonly taken, usually in small numbers; unidentified 

 kinds were present in 33 gizzards, the seeds of panicled sedge {Carex 

 decomposita) in 21, and hop sedge {C. lupuliformis) in 8. Other 

 sedge seeds found were those of river bulrush (Scirpus fiuviatilis), 

 Fimbristylis , spike rush (Eleocharis sp.), beaked rush (Rhynchospora 

 sp.), and unidentified sedges. 



GRASSES (GRAMINEAe), 8.17 PER CENT. 



Chief among the grasses which contribute to the food of the wood 

 duck is wild rice (Zizania palustris) . Its seeds are fed upon by practi- 

 cally all the fresh water ducks, and it presents such an attractive 

 source of food supply as to entice even the wood duck from its 

 secluded haunts to the open marshes where the wild rice grows. 

 According to Kumlien and Hollister, 14 the wood duck, in fall, "resorts 

 to the great wild rice marshes, and while the rice lasts that seems to 

 be its principal food." Wild rice had been eaten by 17 of the wood 

 ducks examined, and when present usually furnished the bulk of the 

 food. The stomach and gullet of one duck shot at Point Pelee, 

 Ontario, contained no fewer than 1,200 seeds of wild rice, with 

 remains of others. Another wood duck, taken at Sand Point, Mich., 

 in August, had filled its craw and gizzard with about 400 flowers of 

 the plant, whole heads of which had been swallowed. An article of 

 food which seems to be very much relished by the ducks wherever 

 found is the seeds of meadow grass (Panicularia nervata). Of a series 

 of 22 wood ducks taken at Caruthersville, in extreme southeastern 

 Missouri, 17 had been feeding upon these seeds. The stomachs and 

 gullets of 7 contained, respectively, from 5,300 to 10,000 seeds to each 

 individual, the seeds constituting from 75 to 96 per cent of the food. 

 The seeds of a switchgrass (Panicum, subgenus Bichanthelium) were 

 found in considerable quantities in several of the stomachs from 

 Louisiana, some of which contained in addition remains of the stems 

 and leaves of the same grass. In addition to the grasses already 

 mentioned, the seeds of other switchgrasses (Panicum spp.), wild 

 millet (EchinocJdoa crus-galli), cut-grass (Zizaniopsis miliacea), rice 

 cut-grass (Homalocenchrus oryzoides), and love grass (Eragrostis sp.) 

 were identified. The stomach of one wood duck taken near Chicago, 

 111., in October, was filled with corn, and one from Louisiana contained 

 traces of cultivated rice. 



J'ONDWEEDS (XAIADACEAE), 6.53 PER CENT. 



In the pondweeds is another family of plants which is important as 

 a source of food for many species of ducks and to secure which the 

 wood duck departs to some extent from its normal feeding habits. 



11 Kumlien, L., and N. Hollister, The Birds of Wisconsin: Bull. Wisconsin Nat. Hist. Soc, III, p. 21, 

 1903. 



