_ 13 . 
grain that had baan cut* In other instanoas it was said that fields had 
been flooded before they were out and these were largely destroyed. 
In connection with this damage to rice in Arlcansas County it is of 
interest to icnow that Uallards bare been oooiaon in this region for many 
years* Their aooustomed food here Is mainly acorns and it is only in re- 
cent years since the development of the country that Stubblefields have 
been available for feeding grotmds. Their normal food does not seem to 
have been vary abundant as in January 1699. E. Hollister recorded (Wilson 
I 
Bulletin* 1902. pp. 11-12] that iiallards near Stuttgart "were all very 
thin — so much so that they were really unfit to shoot. • • • • x noted a 
bunch, on the depot platform, of fourteen dosien birds, the result of one 
and one-half days* shooting by two market hunters, and not one bird in 
the buxich but would be called a *crip' by a Northern or Western sx>ortSfflBn. 
so emaciated was their condition. In Hovember . however, they are in most 
• • 
excellent shape and equal in weight to a Uinnesota or Wisoonsin *oom-fed* 
iiallard.** This would seem to indicate that the birds are in good condi- 
tion when they arrive in November but that if dexwndent upon normal food 
supplies that they lose in weight and become thin. 
It seams probable that the iliallard population of this area is con- 
stantly shifting, from the time when the birds arrive in fall or throue^ 
<3t 
the winter, as weather conditions locally and farther north vdry. Flocks 
of ducks were seen constantly during the field worx in this region and save 
for two male Pintails all were Jallards. About 5000 were seen on Decem- 
ber 17 below Stuttgart and on this day those seen, save for a few birds 
that were feeding on rioe stubble were flying north as the weather was 
beginning to moderate after a prolonged cold spell* On Deoejaber 22 with 
