THE GAME BREEDER 



iia 



Fig. I— A Musk Grass (Chara). 



entirely lacks representatives of Chara 

 or Nitella, our two genera of Characeae. 

 They require lime, however, and hence 

 reach their best development in regions 

 where that mineral is plentiful. 



For transplanting, musk grasses should 

 be gathered in quantity in late summer 

 or fall, when some or all of the oogonia 

 are mature. For shipment they should 

 be packed in small units (as in berry 

 crates) open to the air on all sides. This 

 will prevent fermentation ; a little drying 

 will not hurt. If they are to be trans- 

 ported long distances, the package should 

 be iced. For planting, bunches of the 

 plant may be weighted and dropped to 

 the bottom. Growth should appear the 

 following summer. Musk grasses will 

 grow on almost any kind of bottom, but 

 it must be remembered that they will- 

 not thrive permanently in the absence of 

 lime. 



Duckweeds. 



Duckweeds are abundant only under 

 special conditions, but these conditions 

 exist in some of the favorite haunts of 

 our wild ducks. In the still recesses of 

 southern cypress swamps, where duck- 

 weeds cover the entire water surface. 



these plants contribute to the support of 

 all species of wild ducks. A statement 

 of the duckweed content of two lots of 

 stomachs collected at Menesha, Ark., in 

 November and December will serve to 

 show the importance of these plants in 

 that locality. In the first lots were 8 

 Mallards, and duckweeds composed an 

 average of more than 62 per cent, of 

 their stomach contents. The proportion 

 in other species was as follows: Spoon- 

 bill (1 stomach), 55 per cent; redhead 

 (10) 50.3 per cent; and little bluebill 

 (6), 8.33 per cent. In the second lot 

 were 64 Mallards, and they had eaten 

 duckweeds to the average extent of more 

 than 49 per cent. Fifteen ringnecks had' 

 consumed on the average 21.7 per cent, 

 each, and two wood ducks, 95 per cent. 

 In the woodland ponds also of the North- 

 ern States duckweeds abound. Here 

 in the breeding season the wood duck 

 still manifests its preference for these 

 little plants. Some stomachs are filled 

 exclusively with tTiem, thousands being 

 present. 



Duckweeds are relished by most of our 

 ducks and have been found in the stom- 

 achs of the following species additional! 

 to those above mentioned: Pintail, gad- 

 well, black duck, wigeon, blue-winged 

 and green-winged teals, and big bluebill. 

 As duckweeds sink at the approach of 

 cold weather, they are available in the 

 North during only the warmer months. 

 In the South, however, they remain at 

 the surface practically all the year. 



The duckweeds most commonly, seen 

 are the green disks (sometimes more or 

 less tailed on one side, fig. 2, a, b, c, d) 

 which cover the surface of quiet and 

 usually shaded waters. These disks are 

 really leaves, the plants being reduced 

 to a leaf, with one or a few roots on 

 the under side. Duckweeds multiply 

 largely by budding, and the parent plant 

 and offsets often clin^ together in clus- 

 ters. Individual plants vary in size from 

 one-twelfth to three-fourths of an inch 

 in diameter. 



Two genera of duckweeds lack roots. 

 One of these {Wolffia, fig. 2, e, f), con- 

 tains the smallest " flowering plants. 

 These appear as green granules, one 

 twenty-fourth of an inch or less in diam- 



