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tempered drakes striking at their fellows. During these studies I was able to locate the flocks at night by following these sounds.

Other damage was claimed when the grain was in the shock, when it could not be threshed quickly but no instances of this were witnessed this fall. There is no question but that heavy loss may result at this time without proper protection (see report by Wetmore on an investigation of damage to Rice by ducks in Arkansas in 1917.)

That the ducks were actually destroying the rice was proved by observation of the birds feeding and by examination of the fields after they had been frightened out. On several occasions pintails and mallards that were shot at daybreak from flocks on their way to their resting grounds from the rice fields had the throat literally packed with rice from the stomach forward almost to the opening of the windpipe. Some of these ducks obtained at least a pint of rice, taken from the stalk as at this time there had been no rice out. Stomachs and gullets intact taken from these birds were sent in to the Biological Survey as specimens. Excrement of the birds examined on mud bars on their loafing ground consisted in large part of rice hulls.

In one tract of 6000 acres near Maxwell (under water as one project but farmed by several parties) by actual estimate it was found that 125 acres of rice had been eaten by ducks. This grain would have yielded from 10 to 25 sacks of rice per acre. Most of it would have run from 10 to 12 sacks but occasionally areas of heavy rice that had been attacked were encountered.

An actual tabulation of the rice destroyed here made Sept. 26 and 27 in company with H. C. Bryant of the State Fish and Game Commission is as follows: