fiu. 





Trapping, banding, color-marking, sexing, and aging Canada geese at llachead Lake, Montana. 



(Photo by John J. Craighead.) 



A 2-year investigation of the breeding 

 ecology of the common goldeneye was com- 

 pleted at the Maine Cooperative Wildlife 

 Research Unit. It was estimated that total 

 mortality from the start of incubation to 

 attainnnent of flight was about 80 percent 

 of potential production. 



A Utah Unit study of the food habits of 

 juvenile mallards revealed that newly 

 hatched mallards feed primarily on ter- 

 restrial insects and take more plant food, 

 primarily seeds, as the birds grow older. 

 Although a great variety of food items may 

 exist on a marsh during the duck rearing 

 season, few occur in significant numbers 

 and fewer still occur abundantly in the diet 

 of the birds. Abundance of food is important, 

 but it is the combination of quantity, ac- 

 cessibility, and palatability of a specific 

 item of animal or plant material that ap- 

 pears to determine what food items will be 

 consumed by a duckling of a particular 

 age. 



From 1955 through 1958, 548 goslings 

 were color-marked by members of the 

 Montana Cooperative Unit to determine 

 the breeding age of Canada geese in the 

 Flathead Valley of Montana. Eighty-three 

 color-marked 1 -year-old birds were ob- 

 served, and none were known to nest. 

 Thirty-six 2-year-olds were closely ob- 

 served, and 29 percent of these nested. 

 Twelve 3-year-olds were observed, and 

 100 percent of these nested. The one 

 4-year-old observed nested. Similar data 

 were obtained from marked known-age 

 geese in captive flocks except that none of 

 the six 4- and 5-year-olds nested. 



On the Back Bay-Currituck Sound water- 

 fowl wintering ground, facts concerning food 

 production are being correlated with water 

 salinity and waterfowl use. Prelinr^inary 

 analyses of data collected over a 4-year 

 period have established production calen- 

 dars for several important food species 



