332 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 32 



ously reduced, while others, such as the mallard and the pintail, that 

 frequent the eastern plains region, the Mississippi Valley, and the 

 Atlantic coast, have not been so much affected. It is easy to conceive 

 that these conditions might become so acute that a complete cessa- 

 tion of wildfowl hunting would be imperative all through the West ; 

 possibly important species of migratory game birds might be vir- 

 tually extirpated over vast areas in this part of the country, and at 

 the same time be fairly abundant east of the one hundredth meridian. 

 The banding records indicate that should such a disaster overtake 

 these birds, those that migrate through and winter in the East would 

 be very slow to overflow and repopulate the devastated areas in the 

 West even though a complete recovery of natural habitat conditions 

 might be achieved. 



There are, of course, very well-defined northwest by southeast 

 flights of ducks, best illustrated by considering the line of migration 

 previously mentioned and which is followed by redheads and can- 

 vasbacks in reaching the Atlantic coast from their breeding grounds 

 in central Canada. These birds follow the general line of the Great 

 Lakes and thence overland to Delaware and Chesapeake Bays. Such 

 flights are not to be confused with the more nearly north and south 

 routes of the interior. 



Nevertheless, occasionally ducks banded at eastern stations are 

 recovered subsequently at points in the West as the following cases 

 will illustrate: A mallard (231104) banded at Browning, 111., on 

 November 30, 1922, was killed near Sacramento, Calif., on December 

 24, 1923; a blue-winged teal (323756) banded at Lake Scugog, in 

 southern Ontario, on September 24, 1925, was recovered in San Fran- 

 cisco Bay, Calif., on December 12, 1926; a pintail (367029) banded at 

 Ellinwood, Kans., on March 4, 1925, was retaken in Butte County, 

 Calif., on December 19, 1925; a greater scaup (204206) banded at 

 Union Springs on Cayuga Lake, N. Y., on February 27, 1923, was 

 killed at Big Lake, Wash., on December 7, 1927; and a lesser scaup 

 (322327) banded at Oakley, S. C, on March 6, 1925, was recovered 

 in Berkeley County, Calif., on January 13, 1926. 



State dispersal of ducks. — In those States so fortunate as to have 

 abundant waterfowl there are always centers of abundance, that is, 

 areas of great importance to these birds as breeding grounds in 

 summer or as feeding and resting grounds in winter. During the 

 past 10 years many of these areas have supported active waterfowl- 

 banding stations among which may be mentioned Lake Merritt, at 

 Oakland, Calif., Lake Malheur, Oreg. ; the National Bison Kange, 

 western Montana ; the Bear River Marshes, at Great Salt Lake, Utah ; 

 Dawson, N. Dak. ; the Cheyenne bottoms, Kansas ; the marshes of the 

 Illinois River, central Illinois ; Cuivre Island and Portage des Sioux, 



