By analysis of banding returns it was 

 possible to prepare this diagram- 

 matic map showing the principal 

 migration routes of the canvasback. 

 Each dotted line represents the 

 course followed by approximately 

 3,000 wintering birds. 



f^ Pesticide- wildlife studies 



When DDT was a new chemical in 1945, ento- 

 mologists of the U.S. Bureau of Entomology and 

 Plant Quarantine wei-e anxious to test it for con- 

 trol of the gypsy moth and si)ruce hud worm, 

 insects that cause extensive damage to eastern 

 forests. They hoped to use doses and techniques 

 that would not damage the wildlife of the forests, 

 so they discussed the problem with biologists at 

 Patuxent. Together the two groups conducted 

 Held experiments in Pennsylvania and New York 

 and on two wooded areas of the Patuxent Center. 

 The results of these experiments established guide- 

 lines for reasonably safe use of DDT in pest 

 control. This research made possible extensive 

 forest-insect control with a minimum of observ- 

 able damage to warm-blooded animals. 



Since then, chemists have developed many new, 

 potent, long-lasting poisons, and pest-control pro- 

 grams have greatly increased in number and ex- 

 tent — in 1958, airplanes spread chemicals upon 

 60,000,000 acres of land in the United States. Re- 

 search on the effects of new pesticides on wildlife 

 has rarely preceded operations in recent years, and 

 damage to wildlife has been well documented. As 

 a result. Congress in August 1958 directed the 

 Secretary of Interior "to undertake comprehensive 

 continuing studies on the effects of insecticides, 

 herbicides, fungicides and pesticides, upon the fish 

 and wildlife resources of the United States . . . 

 and thereby prevent losses of fish and wildlife 

 from such spraying, dusting, or other treatment." 



Patuxent is the principal headquarters foi- this 



11 



