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grain that had been cut. In other instances it was said that fields had been flooded before they were cut and these were largely destroyed.
 
In connection with this damage to rice in Arkansas County it is of interest to know that Mallards have been common in this region for many years. Their accustomed food here is mainly acorns and it is only in recent years since the development of the country that stubblefields have been available for feeding grounds. Their normal food does not seem to have been very abundant as in January 1899, N. Hollister recorded (Wilson Bulletin, 1902, pp. 11-12) that Mallards near Stuttgart "were all very thin--so much so that they were really unfit to shoot. **** I noted a bunch, on the depot platform, of fourteen dozen birds, the result of one and one-half days' shooting by two market hunters, and not one bird in the bunch but would be called a 'crip' by a Northern or Western sportsman, so emaciated was their condition. In November, however, they are in most excellent shape and equal in weight to a Minnesota or Wisconsin 'corn-fed' Mallard." This would seem to indicate that the birds are in good condition when they arrive in November but that if dependent upon normal food supplies that they lose in weight and become thin.
 
It seems probable that the Mallard population of this area is constantly shifting, from the time when the birds arrive in fall or through the winter, as weather conditions locally and farther north vary. Flocks of ducks were seen constantly during the field work in this region and save for two male Pintails all were Mallards. About 5000 were seen on December 17 below Stuttgart and on this day those seen, save fora  few bords that were feeding on rice stubble were flying north as the weather was beginning to moderate after a  prolonged cold spell. On December 22 with