46 BIRDS OF ALABAMA 



supply for the mallard; among those most frequently eaten 

 are acorns, hickory nuts, and the fruit of the water elm, hack- 

 berry, buttonbush, cypress, red haw, poison ivy, holly, dog- 

 wood, bayberry, swamp privet, and tupelo gum. The animal 

 flood, comprising nearly 10 per cent of the total, consists main- 

 ly of moUusks, crustaceans, fishes, and insects.t 



Twelve stomachs of this species from Alabama have been 

 examined. Individuals taken in Mississippi Sound had eaten 

 principally small snails and grass or sedge fibers ; those taken 

 in the big swamp country above Hurricane had fed largely 

 on acorns, seeds of hornwort, knotweed, the foliage of pond- 

 weed, and a few insect larvae. 



RED-LEGGED BLACK DUCK; BLACK MALLARD: 



Anas rubnpes rubripes Brewster. 



State records. — The "black mallard," as this bird is most 

 often called in the South, occurs as a common winter resident 

 from November to March on most of the larger waters of 

 the State. It is recorded by Brown as very rare at Coosada* 

 and by Avery as a rare winter resident at Greensboro.J 

 Four individuals were seen by local hunters, November 3, 

 1915, on the Tennessee River at Muscle Shoals, and I saw 

 about 8 there December 19, 1915. The species is frequently 

 taken in the Tennessee River and also in the Alabama River 

 in the vicinity of Montgomery. Two were secured near 

 Mobile on November 7, 1915, by Dr. S. C. Frederic — doubtless, 

 among the first migrants to arrive from the North. 



On the coast during the winter this species is usually abun- 

 dant. On February 12 and 13, 1912, I saw about 20 indi- 

 viduals in the ponds on Petit Bois Island and about that many 

 on the west point of Dauphin Island, besides a number in the 

 open Sound. On March 22, they were likewise common in 

 the Sound. In November, 1915, black mallards were as num- 

 erous in these same localities as in 1912. 



In the big swamps of the lower Tensaw River, above Hur- 

 ricane, November 29 to December 2, 1915, they were common, 



tCf. McAtce, Food habits of the mallard ducks of the United States : Bull. 720, U. 

 S. Dept. Agr., 1918. 



•Brown, N. C, Bull. Nuttall Ornith. Club, vol. 4, p. 13, 1879. 

 JAvery, W. C Amer. Field, vol. 34, p. 584, 1890. 



