THE GAME BREEDER 



79 



Britain in the middle of the nineteenth 

 century, and spread rapidly, making such 

 rank growth that it soon became a pest, 



Fa. ig — Water-Weed. A Compact Form. 



filling ornamental waters, mill races and 

 canals. It became known there as Amer- 

 ican water-weed and Babington's curse 

 (because introduced by a botanist of that 

 name). Other names applied to the 

 plant are ditch-nioss, water-thyme, 

 thyme-weed, cats-tails, and choke pond- 

 weed. 



Some botanists consider that there are 

 several different species of water-weed 

 in the United States. But, having in 

 mind the entirely different aspect wild 

 plants of water-weed assume when 

 transferred to an aquarium, one is in- 

 clined to think that differences in the 

 forms, which have been thought to rep- 

 resent distinct species, may be largely 

 due to conditions under which the plants 

 were grown. 



Water-weed has had various scien- 

 tific names applied to it, and the follow- 

 ing may be encountered in trade cata- 

 logues: Philotria, Elodea, and Anacha- 

 ris. The specific name that has been 

 most commonly used in this country is 

 canadensis. Dealers in aquarium plants 

 usually list a form of water-weed known 

 as Anacharis canadensis gigantea. 



Water-weeds grow naturally through- 

 out most of North America. 



Water-weed propagates itself from 

 pieces of leafy stem or root. It is tena- 

 cious of life, and if shipment in good 

 condition is achieved, no trouble will be 

 experienced in obtaining a stand of the 

 plant. Bury the roots or bases of stems 

 in the bottom in shallow water for quick 

 results. The plant will grow, however, 

 if only thrown in water shallow enough 

 (3 feet or less) to allow it to send 

 roots to the bottom. It likes a loam or 



Fig. 20^ Water-Weed A Dffuse Form. 



sandy loam and does not grow in clay; 

 Either still or running waters are suit- 

 able. When established it will spread to 

 water up to 10 feet in depth. 



COONTAIL. 



The seeds of coontail are eaten by 

 practically all wild ducks, but the foliage 

 by a much smaller number and less fre- 

 quently. Ducks known to feed on this 

 plant are the following: Hooded mer- 

 ganser, mallard, black duck, Florida 

 duck, gadwell, wigeon, green-winged and 

 blue-winged teals, spoonbill, pintail, 

 wood duck, redhead, canvasback, little 

 and big bluebills, ringneck, goldeneye, 

 bufile-head, old squaw, white-winged 

 scoter, ruddy duck and the whistling 

 swan. 



The following instances show the local 

 value of coontail to some of these species 

 of ducks : 



About 30 per cent, of the food of 171 

 mallards collected about Mansura and 



