Do Mississippi flyway mallards and black ducks lead a more hazardous life than other 
birds? Mortality rates for several species recently studied are given in table 13. It is evident 
Table 13.--Mortality rates for various bird populations as determined by recent 
studies. 
Mortality Rate, Per Cent 
Year of Banding /Subsequent Years 
Source** 
Table 1 
Bird Population 
Mallard (Chautauqua)* ------ 
Mallard (McGinnis)+ ------- Table 5 
Mallard (England) ---------- Hohn (1948) 
Black duck (McGinnis) ------ Table 6 
Blue-winged teal (McGinnis)- Table 7 
Canada goose ----=---------- Hanson & Smith 
(1950) 
Ruffed grouse<<-=---~-------—— Bump et al. 
(1947) 
Ring-necked pheasant------- Leopold et al. 
(1943) 
Ring-necked pheasant------- Buss (1946) 
Herring gull --------------- Marshall (1947) 
Robin --------------------- Farner (1945) 
—2eeeSeb 2-225 Hann (1948) 
*Juvenile males. +All ages and sexes. **Tables referred to are those in this 
paper. 
that these mallards and black ducks, even though experiencing heavy shooting pressure, do not 
suffer from exceptionally high mortality rates, for the mortality rates are lower than for some 
other game birds and not much higher than for the protected herring gull, the robin, or the 
oven-bird. Mallards studied by Hohn (1948) in England had a much higher mortality rate than 
that found in the present study for North American mallards. The year-of-banding mortality 
rate of 88 per cent in mallards banded as young in England was three-fifths greater than that 
of male mallards banded as juveniles at Lake Chautauqua. The mortality rate among adult- 
banded mallards the year of banding in England was two-thirds greater than the mortality rate 
among adult-banded male mallards the year of banding at Lake Chautauqua. 
It is well recognized that blue-winged teals do not suffer as heavy hunting losses as 
do Mississippi flyway mallards. Hunting seasons open so late in the United States that most of 
these teals have departed for southern regions by the opening dates. Yet despite low gunning 
losses, table 12, the blue-winged teal had higher annual mortality losses than the mallard. 
Ring-necked pheasants (Leopold et al. 1943, Buss 1946) that were fully or partially protected 
from hunting had a higher mortality rate than shot mallard populations, table 13. Canada geese 
in the Horseshoe Lake region of southern Illinois, 1940-1947, underwent higher losses than did 
Chautauqua-banded mallards (Hanson & Smith 1950). However, this goose population was so 
heavily shot that it was undergoing a decline at the time measurements were taken. 
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