DOMESTICATION OF WILD BIRDS 277 



more attractive to ducks by planting water-plants 

 that are used by them as food. The most important 

 of these are wild celery, wild rice, and pondweeds. 

 A study of the stomach-contents of a number of in- 

 dividuals of sixteen species of ducks showed that 

 these three plants composed one quarter of the food 

 of these birds, divided as follows : pondweeds, four- 

 teen per cent; wild celery, six per cent; and wild 

 rice, five per cent. Every part of the plant of wild 

 rice is eaten — stem, leaves, flowers, and seeds. The 

 seeds may be obtained of several reliable dealers, and 

 should be sown broadcast in the shallow water 

 around the edge of the pond. Wild celery may be 

 propagated in a similar way by seeds, and also by 

 winter buds, and by pieces of the plant with a bit 

 of rootstock attached. 



Nineteen plants that serve as food for wild ducks 

 are given in a bulletin published by the United 

 States Bureau of Biological Survey. Among them, 

 besides the three mentioned above, are: wapato, 

 wild millet, musk grasses, duckweed, frogbit, water 

 elm, marine eel-grass, water cress, and coontail. 



Heronry. Mr. Mcllhenny, of Louisiana, has been 

 successful in starting a heronry near his home. He 

 first secured some young herons from nests and 

 reared them by hand. These went away during the 

 winter, but returned in the spring and nested near 

 his house. Other herons joined them, and there is 

 now a large colony, containing thousands of herons 



