TRAVELS AND TRADITIONS OF WATERFOWL 



tributed funds to this and to other Delta studies. The Royal Canadian Air Force 

 has given the Station assistance of a very specialized kind. The National Film 

 Board of Canada, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and the Manitoba 

 Museum have supplied manpower and equipment. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

 Service has worked closely with the Station since its beginning. We have bene- 

 fited from the close association with Ducks Unlimited over a period of many years. 

 The Severn Wildfowl Trust (now the Wildfowl Trust) has had a profound 

 influence on my own studies and upon Delta operations as a whole. The Manitoba 

 Federation of Game and Fish Associations has been a continual source of informa- 

 tion and support. Canadian Industries Ltd. has been an enthusiastic participator 

 in the Delta program. The New York State Conservation Department and the 

 Wisconsin Conservation Department have been collaborators during several 

 seasons. Borden Productions and the Moody Bible Institute have been our fellow 

 workers. All but one of these agencies have stationed a man at Delta to carry out 

 special projects, some for only a part of a season, others each spring for many 

 years. Cornell University, Illinois College, and the universities of Alberta, Bristol, 

 British Columbia, Manitoba, Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin have carried 

 out postgraduate investigations of various phases of waterfowl biology. 



In addition to these organizations, every individual member working at Delta 

 has in some way or other contributed to the development of this book. The task 

 of making individual acknowledgments for the help and criticism that have been 

 given so freely by so many over such a long period is therefore overwhelming. 

 The book was started ten years ago after a series of separate discussions with 

 James F. Bell, Dr. William Rowan, of the University of Alberta, Robert H. Smith, 

 of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Peter Ward, of Delta, and Dr. Lyle K. 

 Sowls. Especially important has been the generous and detailed advice of Robert 

 L. Lillestrand, of General Mills Research Laboratories, to whom I owe a great 

 deal for the development of the discussions on the physics and aerodynamics of 

 flight. The original Delta investigations of Lyle Sowls on the homing behavior of 

 waterfowl have given foundation to important sections of the book, and the keen 

 field ability of Peter Ward has been the source of much original material. 

 Margaret M. Nice, of the Wilson Ornithological Club, gave me the first critical 

 review; I owe her much for this and for the help she gave me during her years 

 at Delta. The manuscript grew from critical readings by Dr. Walter J. Brecken- 

 ridge, Dr. William H. Marshall, and Dr. Dwain W. Warner, of the University of 

 Minnesota; Dr. John E. Cushing, University of California; Dr. Ira N. Gabrielson, 

 Wildlife Management Institute; Dr. Donald R. Griffin and Dr. Ernst Mayr, Har- 

 vard University; and E. R. Kalmbach, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Dr. Rowan 

 read the manuscript at many stages from start to finish, and I have depended 

 heavily upon his lucid, stimulating criticisms. Dr. Frank McKinney, of Delta, 

 helped me organize the final copy for publication. I am heavily in debt to these 



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