ELEVEN [MPORTANT WILD-DUCK POODS. 6 
shipment they should be packed in small units (as m berry crates) 
open to the air on all sides. This will prevenl fermentation; a little 
drying will not hurt. If they are bo be transported long distances, 
the package should be iced. For planting, bunches of the plan! may 
be weighted and dropped to (he bottom. Growth should appear the 
following summer. Musk grasses will grow on almost any kind of 
bottom, Init it must be remembered that they will not thrive perma- 
nently in the absence of lime. 
DUCKWEEDS. 
VALUE AS DUCK FOOD. 
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 duckweeds 
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 lot 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: Spoonbill (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 them, thousands being present. 
Duckweeds are relished by most of our ducks and have been 
found in the stomachs of the following species additional to those 
above mentioned: Pintail, gadwell, 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. 
DESCRIPTION OF PLANTS. 
The duckweeds most commonly seen are the green disks (some- 
times more or less tailed on one side, fig. 2, a, h, 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 cling together in clusters. Individual 
plants vary in size from one-twelfth to three-fourths of an inch in 
diameter. 
