. Bulletin. Natural history; Natural history. May, 1943 Bellrose & Anderson: Duck Food Plants 431 toms; most of the seeds fall a month be- fore the greatest numbers of ducks ar- rive. McAtee (1939, p. 3^) in comment- ing on the value of wild rice states: "This plant has a great reputation as a producer oi food for wildfowl—too high a rating, perhaps, considering its local and seasonal ; Small pondweed, Potamogeton pusil- luSy is another species that is generally. Fig. 16.—Wild rice (Zizania aqiiatica) is not a valuable duck food plant in the Illinois River valley; fe
. Bulletin. Natural history; Natural history. May, 1943 Bellrose & Anderson: Duck Food Plants 431 toms; most of the seeds fall a month be- fore the greatest numbers of ducks ar- rive. McAtee (1939, p. 3^) in comment- ing on the value of wild rice states: "This plant has a great reputation as a producer oi food for wildfowl—too high a rating, perhaps, considering its local and seasonal ; Small pondweed, Potamogeton pusil- luSy is another species that is generally. Fig. 16.—Wild rice (Zizania aqiiatica) is not a valuable duck food plant in the Illinois River valley; few of the seeds are available during the season of the principal waterfowl flight in the fall months. considered a good waterfowl food plant. Although it amounted to per cent of the vegetation, table 3, no foliage or seeds were found in any of the stomachs analyzed. Studies of seed yield in 1941 (Low & Bellrose ms.) revealed that it was one of the lowest producers. We have noted that the vegetative parts, after fruiting time in late July and early August, generally disintegrate. Whether disintegration is caused by green algae, by the competition of coontail and southern naiad, or by some unknown tactor, we do not know. Longleaf ammannia, Ammannia coccinea, is a moist-soil plant that has occurred fairly abundantly at Clear Lake. No evidence was obtained that this species was ever used as food by ducks, table 3. Plant parts of a large number of other species were consumed in infinitesimal amounts; likewise some other species were found in the field in amounts too small to tabulate, table 3. Discussion That the true value to waterfowl of the various aquatic and moist-soil plants cannot be determined solely from the use made of them by the birds is evident after consideration of a few outstanding instances. Based solely on use, Walter's millet ranks sixth in value among duck food plants of the Illinois River valley, slightly below marsh smartweed, table 3. When abundanc
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