POOD HABITS OF SHOAL- WATER DUCKS. 43 



of the branches are borne the fruits, consisting of hard, oblong, flat- 

 tened seeds a little more than one-eighth of an inch long, and usually 

 bearing on their outer covering from one to three woody spines. A 

 few ducks, especially the gadwall and widgeon, relish the foliage of 

 coontail, but most species, including the wood duck, prefer the seeds. 

 Only a very few stomachs of this species contained foliage of coontail, 

 and in these cases it was present in such small quantities as to indi- 

 cate that it had been taken accidentally. The plant has a very wide 

 distribution, and is found throughout North America except in the 

 extreme north. The seeds were found most commonly, however, in 

 the stomachs of wood ducks from the Southern States. In a series 

 of 65 gizzards from Moreauville, La., all but two of which contained 

 seeds of coontail, they averaged about 12^ per cent of the total food. 

 In another series, 13 in number, from Avoyelles Parish, La., seeds of 

 coontail amounted to more than 38 per cent. The largest number 

 found in one gizzard was 127, with fragments of others. 



ARUM FAMILY (ARACEAE), 2.42 PER CENT. 



The large, starchy seeds of arrow-arum {Peltandra virginica) were 

 present in 5 of the wood duck stomachs examined. Three of these 

 from Portage Lake, Michigan, were well filled, one containing 51 

 seeds and remains of others, both crop and gizzard being crammed. 

 In some localities these seeds are a very important item in the wood 

 duck's food. In January, 1914, Lord William Percy found wood 

 ducks in the Everglades of Florida feeding almost exclusively on the 

 seeds of Peltandra. C. P. Alexander, writing of a visit to the Kin- 

 loch Gun Club, South Carolina, September 5, 1915, says: "As we 

 approached, * * * several hundred summer ducks were feeding 

 and flew up in small groups of 2 to 12. Upon examining the places 

 from which they arose I found thousands of the seeds of Peltandra all 

 neatly shelled out and the outer coats floating in small groups in the 

 water. The spathes from which they were taken occurred by the 

 score, each with a large hole torn in the side. Two of the ducks were 

 shot and the craws were full of Peltandra seed. There can be no 

 doubt of the importance of this plant, as a food for Aix at least." 

 The gullet and stomach of one wood duck from Connecticut contained 

 31 seeds of the skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) , with remains 

 of several more. 



COMPOSITES (COMPOSITAE), 2.38 PER CENT. 



The flat, spined seeds of bur marigold (Bidens sp.), known as 

 beggar-ticks or stick-tights, were present in 25 gizzards, sometimes 

 in considerable numbers; three from Avoyelles Parish, La., were 

 nearly filled with them. Two ducks collected in northeastern 

 Kansas had filled up on the seeds of giant ragweed (Ambrosia trifida) . 



