The food contents of 326 gizzards from 15 species of waterfowl collected on Currituck Sound between 1947 and 1952 were analyzed in detail by the aggregate percentage method. The collection period was a time of generally low and fluctuating waterfowl populations on the Sound. Per cent frequency and per cent volume results are presented for 122 diving ducks (six species), 75 ruddy ducks, 97 dabbling ducks (six species), 17 Canada geese, and 15 coots, both in groups and by species. Plant foods composed 97% of the total. Potamogeton, Ruppia, and Najas were the overwhelmingly important foods for all groups, totaling about 80% by volume for the entire sample (72% identified and probably most of the 11% unidentified vegetative material). Nevertheless, the 7 commonest species--canvasback, redhead, ruddy duck, American widgeon, black duck, pintail, and green-winged teal--each showed distinctive individual differences in types and percentages of foods taken. Vallisneria, now present in the Sound in good supply, did not appear in any of the gizzards examined and very possibly was relatively rare or spotty in the Sound during the 1947-1952 period.
