FOOD HABITS OF SHOAL-WATER DUCKS. 43 
of the branches are borne the fruits, consisting of hard, oblong, flat- 
tened seeds a little more than one-eighth of an inch long, and usually 
bearing on their outer covering from one to three woody spines. <A 
few ducks, especially the gadwall and widgeon, relish the foliage of 
coontail, but most species, including the wood duck, prefer the seeds. 
Only a very few stomachs of this species contained foliage. of coontail, 
and in these cases it was present in such small quantities as to indi- 
cate that it had been taken accidentally. The plant has a very wide 
distribution, and is found throughout North America except in the 
extreme north. The seeds were found most commonly, however, in 
the stomachs of wood ducks from the Southern States. In a series 
of 65 gizzards from Moreauville, La., all but two of which contained 
seeds of coontail, they averaged about 124 per cent of the total food. 
In another series, 13 in number, from Avoyelles Parish, LLa., seeds of 
coontail amounted to more than 38 per cent. The largest number 
found in one gizzard was 127, with fragments of others. 
ARUM FAMILY (ARACEAE), 2.42 PER CENT. 
The large, starchy seeds of arrow-arum (Peltandra virginica) were 
present in 5. of the wood duck stomachs examined. Three of these 
from Portage Lake, Michigan, were well filled, one containing 51 
seeds and remains of others, both crop and gizzard being crammed. 
In some localities these seeds are a very important item in the wood 
duck’s food. In January, 1914, Lord William Perey found wood 
ducks in the Everglades of Florida feeding almost exclusively on the 
seeds of Peltandra. C. P. Alexander, writing of a visit to the Kin- 
loch Gun Club, South Carolina, September 5, 1915, says: “As we 
approached, * * * several hundred summer ducks were feeding 
and flew up in small groups of 2 to 12. Upon examining the places 
from which they arose I found thousands of the seeds of Peltandra all 
neatly shelled out and the outer coats floating in small groups in the 
water. The spathes from which they were taken occurred by the 
score, each with a large hole torn in the side. Two of the ducks were 
shot and the craws were full of Peliandra seed. There can be no 
doubt of the importance of this plant as a food for Azz at least.” 
The gullet and stomach of one wood duck from Connecticut contained 
31 seeds of the skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus), with remains 
of several more. 
COMPOSITES (COMPOSITAE), 2.38 PER CENT. 
The flat, spined seeds of bur marigold (Aidens sp.), known as 
beggar-ticks or stick-tights, were present in 25 gizzards, sometimes 
in considerable numbers; three from Avcyelles Parish, La., were 
nearly filled with them. Two ducks collected in northeastern 
Kansas had filled up on the seeds of giant ragweed (Ambrosia trifida). 
