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by the ducks and it required some search to discover a bundle that had been protected so that samples of uninjured heads might be secured.  The damage was attributed entirely to Mallards and feathers still scattered about in the field belonged to this species.  The birds in feeding had pulled out the sheaves or had clambered over the shocks until they were flattened down so that all of the grain had been exposed.  In many cases paths had been worn about the flattened bases of the shocks as the birds had worked about them.  In some places the ducks seemed to have rested for considerable periods after feeding as feathers were scattered about on piles of ordure.  Samples of duck dung were collected at different points in the fields.  Under the microscope these were found to be made up almost entirely of the rough hulls of rice ground up during the process of digestion.  As this field was new land the yield of rice had been very heavy.  A conservative estimate placed the loss in this field at 6000 bushes of rice valued at a few cents more than $2.00 per bushel.

On this same day I examined a ricefield belonging to Henry Jensen that had also been damaged seriously by Mallards.  This field contained about fifty acres of Blue Rose rice which was still in the shock.  Ten acres of this was near a farm house and bordered a well-traveled road.  The damage by ducks in this tract had been slight, but ducks had fed extensively in the remaining 40 acres, and were still working there as I flushed a few Mallards in crossing the field and several flocks were seen circling about waiting for an opportunity to alight.  In this field there had been considerable water which had frozen holding the shocks of rice firmly in place.  Ducks had fed all about these shocks and had clambered over them eating every grain of rice that was exposed or could be reached.