Show W tf 17 f W Sports Mirror By y JOHN MOONEY I Mr and Mrs Joe Q Mallard probably arent aren't familiar famil famil- jar br with that thai climax in the screen whodunits units wherein i ithe the hero thunders at the cringing culprit Where U were werey y you u on the night of January 13 Answer yes or no But just the same that's what is awaiting Mr and Mrs i M. M when they return to Canada from their winter sojourn I in in the sunny south Its It's not that Canada being on a war-time war basis suspects suspects suspects sus sus- sus- sus Mr and Mrs M. M and their friends in the wildfowl brood of subversive activities but just the same Canadians Canadians Cana Cana- are ever curious just where the waterfowl spend their time when outside the jurisdiction of Ducks Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited and its Canadian workers Thomas C. C Main the white white- white haired aired little general manager of Ducks Unlimited Canada who made such a a hit with Utah sportsmen a year ago has issued a from Canada to the extent that all waterfowl are undergoing just such where were were vere you questioning right now Tom who learned to be cautious ous ducking bullets with the Canadian Engineers in the British campaign at Gallipoli in World War I has just completed a duck survey of the United States and Canada The report reveals that of all the western states Utah and California showed a great increase in the 1940 duck flight The other western states with the exception of Nevada Nevada Nevada Ne Ne- vada and New Mexico showed moderate increases in the duck flight with the two exceptions omitted from the tabulation tabulation tabulation tab tab- because of insufficient data Main hastens to add that this does not refer to hunting conditions since weather is largely for poor bags if the ducks ducks' are flying The survey recorded a general increase of eleven million million mil mu- lion ducks in the three prairie provinces of Canada some per cent above 1939 which was a previous high for several seasons The fact that did not get as much shooting as anticipated may be blamed on the exceptionally exception exception- ally lly mild early winter in Canada which delayed the migration migration migration mi mi- mi- mi gration until after the hunting season closed here in early December I- I But getting back to Mains Main's report he found that hunters were still among the minority when it came to accounting for duck fatalities with natural causes still claiming almost 25 per percent percent percent cent of the crop before it ever faced a nimrod's scattergun n. n An analysis of reports by observers on the 1940 mortality rate of 34 sample duck families in Canada indicates 25 per cent of of the eggs and newly hatched ducklings were destroyed in the early stages of the breeding breeding breeding breed breed- ing season alone Even if the ducklings survive these early hazards it is estimated th that t another 50 per cent vill will drop off through drouth fires and predators Following is a tabulation compiled by Main and his associates showing the average number of eggs in the nests inspected and the average number of du ducks ks just ready to enter the gamut of natural enemies No Eggs Av Brood Mallard 8 12 w. w Pintail Pintail o. f v c 12 8 winged Blue-winged teal r w r 12 8 Baldpate 6 i 8 12 It Q lZ 12 Canvasback b ck 1 i tr C o vi H 10 Redhead Redhead- It U 4 v 1 r 8 14 r. r 4 e J g 8 12 Ruddy 94 I 6 10 Gold neye 8 15 15 Main reports that the 32 projects completed in 1938 and 1939 brought brough forth bumper crops of of ducks with the exception of two breeding grounds which failed But on m one project alone the survey showed ducks were produced last year where the year before died when the marsh dried up Its It's a worthwhile work this conservation and it is easy to see ee why Newell B. B Cook and his Utah sportsmen conservation are proud of their part in bringing wildfowl back to its place in American lakes and ponds |