. Bulletin. Natural history; Natural history. Fig- 2. —Walter's millet [Echinochlua IVal- lers) outranks Japanese millet in certain habi- tats as a food for migratory waterfowl in the Illinois River region. While its favorable posi- tion may be due in most instances to greater seed production, it may be due at times to a diet preference on the part of pintails and Fig. 3.—Nutgrasses [Cyperus spp.), as a group ranking fifth in value among Illinois River valley duck food plants, produce large quantities of minute seeds. Straw-colored cyperus (C. strigosits) is pictured here. favorable ha
. Bulletin. Natural history; Natural history. Fig- 2. —Walter's millet [Echinochlua IVal- lers) outranks Japanese millet in certain habi- tats as a food for migratory waterfowl in the Illinois River region. While its favorable posi- tion may be due in most instances to greater seed production, it may be due at times to a diet preference on the part of pintails and Fig. 3.—Nutgrasses [Cyperus spp.), as a group ranking fifth in value among Illinois River valley duck food plants, produce large quantities of minute seeds. Straw-colored cyperus (C. strigosits) is pictured here. favorable habitats for the plant than were the others. Walter's millet, Echinochloa Waheri, fig. 2, approaches rice cut-grass in value, according to the index figures in table 3. It is to be expected that, like many other plants, this species varies in value with the year and habitat, its value de- pending on its own seed production and the availability of other foods. Although Martin & Uhler (1939) regard the small- er seeds of this species less important as a duck food than those of wild millet, E. crusgalli, we believe that Walter's millet may locally, in certain years, be the more valuable species. For exam- ple, at Clear Lake in 1940, Walter's mil- let was slightly less abundant than wild and Japanese millets combined. How- ever, Walter's millet amounted to per cent of the native food plant items taken from the stomachs of ducks shot at this lake, while wild and Japanese millets totaled only per cent. We believe that the greater value of Walter's millet may lie in a generally heavier seed yield of this plant or in the fact that pintails and teals prefer the; small seeds of this species to the larger ' ones of the other millets. We know that pintail and teal diets are made up of smaller seeds than are those of mallards, baldpates, gadwalls and the like, and that the number of pintail and teal i J. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images
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