FOOD HABITS OF MALLARD DUCKS. 15 
Besides the vernacular names already mentioned, the following 
are applied to this species: Summer duck, summer French duck, 
canard noir d’été, canard des isles, and Mexican mallard. In gen- 
eral, the habits of this species are much like those of the northern 
black mallard. 7 
FOOD HABITS. 
The fact that the black duck takes a notably larger proportion of 
animal food than the common mallard probably is due, as has been | 
noted, simply to greater availability of this class of food to the black ~ 
duck, as that species spends more time in coastal marshes, where 
animal food is more abundant and accessible through a longer season. 
The southern black duck, living in an area where cold weather is 
- experienced only occasionally and for only short periods, has abetter 
opportunity to get animal food than the black duck. It responds to 
this superior availability, which after all is the guiding principle in 
the choice of food by birds, by making 40.5 per cent of its diet of ani- 
mal matter. This exceeds the proportion taken by the black duck by 
approximately 15 per cent, almost the same (hace nce as between 
that species and the aula 
Fifty-one stomachs of the southern black duck have been examined 
and analyses of 48 of them were used for the percentages. Although 
this is a rather small representation of the species, the stomachs are 
distributed fairly well through the six months from November to 
April and represent all the usual haunts of the species—the Ever- 
glades and the river marshes of Florida, the coast marshes of Louisi- 
ana, and the coastal lakes and lagoons of Texas. It is probable, 
therefore, that they afford a reasonably accurate idea of the feeding 
_ habits of this species. 
VEGETABLE Foop. 
Grasses are the most important element of the vegetable food of 
the southern black duck, forming almost. half of it. Frequently the 
rootstocks are dug up and devoured, and some stems and leaves are 
eaten. Of the grass seeds consumed, cultivated rice is most impor- 
tant. Most of that found in the stomachs was waste, being taken in 
winter, and as it included red rice, some good was done by eating it. 
However, as the southern black duck spends the summer in the 
country where much rice is grown, it has the opportunity of feeding 
upon the crop in the younger and more appetizing stages. It is said 
to do this sometimes to a destructive extent. However, the game 
value of the duck makes it undesirable to take aggressive measures 
against it on behalf of the rice crop. A toll large enough, if not too 
large, is taken of the birds during the hunting season. 
Next to grasses the seeds of smartweeds are preferred. They form © 
almost a tenth (9.54 per cent) of the total diet. No fewer than 800 
