DUCKS. 17 



Hooded Merganser. Lophodytes cucullatus. 



A fairly abundant summer resident throughout the Mississippi 

 Valley, the hooded shelldrake or "sawbill" breeds in favorable local- 

 ities in Arkansas, nesting in hollow trees, after the manner of the 

 wood duck. Strong-flying young were seen at Big Lake June 22, 

 1911 (McAtee). It is common in migration on lakes and sloughs, 

 and is reported to occur plentifully on Big Lake from October to 

 March. McAtee found it common at Mud Lake November 14 and 

 at Turrell November 17-19, 1910. The food of this species is chiefly 

 crawfish, frogs, small fishes, and insects. 



Mallard. Anas platyrhyncha. 



The mallard is the most abundant duck and the most important 

 game bird in the State. It has been the chief factor in the develop- 

 ment of extensive market hunting and shipping interests and in the 

 growth of several large and wealthy sportsmen's clubs. 



The first fall migrants arrive about the middle of October, but the 

 main flight occurs in November, and the species is found in numbers 

 Until the middle of April, although the majority go north in March. 

 The shallow lakes and overflowed bottom lands of the eastern part of 

 the State are particularly attractive to this bird, and on these waters it 

 reaches its greatest abundance. Many thousands are killed each 

 season by market hunters and thousands more by local gunners and 

 members of sportsmen's clubs. Widmann states that in the winter 

 of 1893-94 150,000 ducks, four-fifths of which were mallards, were 

 sent to market from the Big Lake region. 1 In spite of the tremendous 

 annual slaughter the species is still found in great abundance, but 

 according to experienced gunners is decreasing yearly in numbers. 

 It was recorded as abundant on the Grand Prairie around Stuttgart 

 in November and January (Hollister, 1899 and 1900) and at Mud 

 Lake, Menasha Lake, and Wappanocka Lake in November (McAtee, 

 1910). It winters in small numbers in the vicinity of Fayetteville 

 (Harvey), and has been reported from Clinton in February (Pleas) and 

 from Van Buren in December (Hanna). The food of the mallard con- 

 sists largely of the seeds and stems of water plants (such as duckweed, 

 pondweed, and hornwort), together with acorns, beechnuts, and 

 various grains. The birds are fond of both corn and rice, and when 

 living near grainfields are said to feed in them regularly. They con- 

 sume more or less animal food, such as snails, aquatic insects, an occa- 

 sional meadow mouse or frog, and will not reject even dead fish or 

 other offal. In the timbered sloughs of eastern Arkansas the mallard 

 feeds extensively on acorns, but on lakes in the Sunken Lands lives 

 to a great extent on seeds and water plants. 



lAuk, XII, p. 354, 1895. 



94869°— Bull. 38—11 2 



