12 BULLETIN 862, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Several ‘‘widgeons”’ shot on the shores of Long Island Slough, south- 
western Washington, had eaten considerable quantities of the leaves — 
and rootstocks of eelgrass (Zostera marina) , a few of the stomachs 
containing no other food 
GRASSES (GRAMINEAE), 13.9 PER CENT. 
The principal grasses taken were switchgrass (Panicum spp.), by 
11 widgeons, wild rice (Zizania palustris), by 5, and saltgrass 
(Distichlis spicata), by 5; rangegrass (Panicum obtusum), a little bar- 
ley (Hordeun pusillum), and cultivated rice (Oryza sativa) were eaten 
by one each; and in 16 stomachs were grasses which were not identi- | 
fied. Six full stomachs collected in south central Louisiana in March 
contained practically nothing besides the remains of tender young 
shoots of switchgrass. Several from other localities were filled with 
erass fibers and root stocks, and some contained grass seeds. One 
from Oregon held more than 1,200 seeds of switchgrass in addition 
to about 2,800 seeds of another grass which was not determined. 
The only cultivated grain found was a small quantity of rice taken 
from a stomach collected in Louisiana in January, when the grain 
could hardly have been anything but waste. The widgeon has been 
accused of doing considerable damage to fields of growing grain in 
spring, but such complaints are not borne out by the present investi- 
gation. It is very probable that flocks of the ducks do some little 
harm in this way, but such depredations are the exception rather 
than the rule. 
: ALGAE, 7.71, PER CENT: 
Algae, consisting chiefly of musk grass, were found in the stomachs — 
of 25 baldpates. More than two-thirds of this food was taken during 
the months of April and September, by ducks shot in Wisconsin, 
Michigan, and Minnesota, probably in migration. 
SEDGES (CYPERACEAE), 7.41 PER CENT. 
The sedges do not play so important a part in the food of the 
baldpate as with the gadwall and several other ducks, probably be- 
cause the seeds are the only parts usually eaten, and oie duck evi- 
dently cares little forseeds. The sedges eaten iby the baldpate were: 
Three-square (Scirpus americanus), by 37; prairie bulrush (S. palu- 
dosus), 12; river bulrush (S. fluviatilis), 5; unidentified bulrushes 
(Scirpus spp.), 24; spike rush (Hleocharis sp.), 19; chufa (Cyperus sp.), 
5; saw grass (Cladium effusum and C. mariscovles), 6; sedges of the 
genus Carer, 12; Fimbristylis, 4; and unidentified sedges, by 20. 
One duck shot in Chihuahua, Mexico, had swallowed no less than 
64,000.seeds of spike rush. As a rule the baldpate does not take 
sedge seeds freely where pondweeds and other aquatic plants with 
tender foliage are available. 
