NATURAL HISTORY OF THE KING RAIL 



79 



in his study of the food of blackbirds in Louisiana, suggested that the 

 hard siliceous hulls of rice seed may be used in the gizzard for 

 grinding. 



Ricefield weeds, abundant in all rail habitats, furnished some food 

 through the year. Seeds of jungle-rice {Echinochloa colonum)^ wild 

 millet, bullgrass, rice-cutgrass, beakrush, and smartweed {Polygonum 

 spp.) were found as traces in many stomachs in each season except 

 fall when they composed 2 percent of the contents. 



The following seeds of woody plants were found in several 

 stomachs: blackberry {Rubm sp.), snowball {Styrax americana)^ 

 blackgum, and oak. Tubers of marsh plants, probably sedge 

 (Cyperaceae), were found in several stomachs, and one rail had eaten 

 tubers of an arrowhead. 



TEXAS RICEFIELDS 



Twelve stomachs were collected in ricefields at Eagle Lake, Colorado 

 County, Tex., during September 1938 by Valgene W. Lehmann. 



Three items formed the bulk (63 percent) of the food and occurred 

 in at least half of the stomachs. The most important, the coneheaded 

 grasshopper {Neoconocephalus sp.), occurred in nine stomachs and 

 formed 30 percent by volume; dragonflies (Odonata) formed 20 per- 

 cent by volume ; and crayfish formed 13 percent by volume. An assort- 

 ment of insects accounted for most of the remainder. Rice seed was 

 the only plant food taken and comprised only 5 percent of the total 

 food consumed. 



LOUISIANA RICEFIELDS 



Nine stomachs were collected in ricefields in the gulf coast region of 

 Cameron and Vermilion Parishes in the summer of 1925 by 

 E. R. Kalmbach and in 1955 and 1965 by myself. 



Crayfish were in seven of nine stomachs and were the major item 

 in six. Crickets {Gryllus sp.) were found in four stomachs and were 

 the most important items in three of those. Weevils were the only 

 other important food. 



UPPER ST. JOHNS RIVER, FLA. 



Six stomachs were collected in marshes in the Persimmon Hammock 

 area during the spring of 1905 by W. W. Worthington. 



Crayfish were the major items in five of the six stomachs. Short- 

 horned grasshoppers (Acrididae) occurred in all of the stomachs, 

 but were important percentagewise in only one. Aquatic and land 

 beetles formed the balance of the food. 



CURRITUCK SOUND, N.C. 



Seventeen stomachs were collected, mostly in October, November, 

 and December, 1909 and 1910, at Church's Island by J. B. White and 

 W. L. McAtee. 



