MALLABD 99 



the power of flight by the almost simultaneous molt of the wing 

 feathers, its only means of protection rests in its ability to hide or to 

 escape notice because of its dull coloration. Thus the dull eclipse 

 plumage is supposedly for protective purposes. 



The following interesting note on the use of protective coloration 

 by the Mallard is recorded from Alaska by Osgood (1904, p. 56) : 



Expecting the bird to rise at any moment, we paddled on but were begin 

 ning to feel baffled, when just before the canoe touched the bank, we found our 

 game giving a very pretty exhibition of its confidence in .protective coloration. 

 It was a female Mallard, and lay on the brown mud bank, strewn with dead 

 grass and decaying matter, which blended perfectly with the markings of its 

 back. It was not merely crouching, but lay prostrated to the last degree, its 

 wings closely folded, its neck stretched straight out in front of it, with throat 

 and under mandible laid out straight, and even its short tail pressed flatly 

 into the mud. The only sign of lije came from its bright little eyes, which 

 nervously looked at us in a half hopeful, half desperate manner. When a 

 paddle was lifted, with which it could almost be reached, the bird started 

 up and was allowed to escape with its well-earned life. 



Most of the food of the Mallard is obtained in shallow water, but 

 the bird often forages on shore and even at some distance inland 

 when desirable food is obtainable there. When feeding in shallow 

 water it not only skims the surface of the water but every now and 

 then turns tail up and searches the bottom. The latter mode of food 

 getting is sometimes called "tilting," and the Mallard, like the 

 other river and pond ducks which often feed in this manner, is called 

 a "tip-up"; the adult bird seldom dives, however. It discovers 

 its food by means of touch rather than sight, so that it can feed 

 equally as well at night as by day (Baird, Brewer and Eidgway, 

 1884, I, p. 497). 'The food consists largely of vegetable matter in 

 the form of grass, aquatic plants, weed seeds, and grain. So fond 

 is this bird of grain that in some localities the loss it occasions the 

 grain grower is no small one. Nevertheless, the Mallard can be said 

 to be fairly omnivorous, for it also feeds on larvae of aquatic insects, 

 worms, grasshoppers, small molluscs and crustaceans. A. K. Fisher 

 (1893a, p. 15) records that a juvenile Mallard taken at Walker Basin, 

 Kern County, July 13, 1891, and still in the down, had its stomach dis- 

 tended Avith grasshoppers, insects which were abundant at that time 

 in the neighborhood of the sloughs. W. E. Bryant (1893a, p. 55) 

 reports the following from the stomachs of four specimens secured in 

 the Suisun marshes : "a. Small univalve shells in gullet. 6. Bearded 

 harley and barley heads, c. Small sprouted seeds, d. Half a teacup- 

 ful of barnacles in the gullet." McAtee (19116, pp. 1, 2) states that 

 the Mallard eats a larger percentage (17.13%) of wild rice than any 

 other duck, the Black Duck and Wood Duck ranking next. Wild 



