° 1912 J General Notes. 533 



Mallard and Black Ducks at Currituck, N. C. — In looking over the 

 shooting logs of three of the Currituck Duck Clubs the following rather 

 interesting facts with regard to the relative frequency of Mallards and Black 

 Ducks in Eastern North Carolina were brought to light. 



The Swan Island Club is at the northern end of the sound, near its 

 junction with the Back Bay of Virginia. The Currituck Club is some 

 thirty miles farther south. At the former club the number of the different 

 species taken, has only been kept for the past three years, seasons 1909-10 

 to 1911-12, while at the Currituck Club there are twenty-four years of 

 records. During the twenty year period 1888-89 to 1909-10 the propor- 

 tions at the Currituck Club were Mallards 47%, Blacks 100%, and this 

 proportion does not vary essentially from season to season. It runs up as 

 high as 80% and as low as 15%. This last happened only once, in 1899-00, 

 and is in marked contrast to any other seasonal figure, except the season 

 just past. The greatest Mallard year at Currituck Club was the season 

 1904-05. 



Mr. John E. Thayer suggests that the large number of Mallards at the 

 Currituck Club may be accounted for by the heavy baiting with corn. 

 If this is so, it is a fact of some economic interest, but Swan Isle has also 

 used corn, though to a less extent. 



At Swan Isle for the last three winters, 1909 to 1912, the Mallards are only 

 in the proportion of 11%. The last three seasons have certainly been 

 poor Mallard years, but at Currituck Club they have yielded a proportion 

 of 30%, nearly three times as great as Swan Isle. 



At the False Cape Club, some fifteen miles north of Swan Island in 

 Virginia, I have figures for the last six seasons, 1906-07 to 1911-12. The 

 Mallards are 23%, Blacks 100%, while at Currituck Club for the same six 

 seasons the Mallards are 37%. This shows more Mallards at False Cape 

 than at Swan Isle, both relatively and absolutely, but the proportion of 

 Mallards to Blacks is not nearly as great here as at the Currituck Club. 

 We probably have to do with a question of artificial attraction which 

 suggests that the Mallard shows a greater ' susceptibility ' to corn and 

 other grains than does the Black Duck. 



For the northern part of the sound we have found from eleven to twenty- 

 three per cent., and at the southern end, thirty-seven to forty-seven per 

 cent., but this difference can hardly be significant in a geographical sense. 



Another figure of interest can be considered. There is a chance that the 

 Mallard is not holding out so well in numbers as the Black Duck, owing to 

 greater interference over its breeding area. Thus we must compare an 

 old period at Currituck Club, 1888 to 1898, with a later period, 1898-1910. 

 The early period shows 55% of Mallards and the later one only 44%, a 

 decrease of 9%, but this decrease is more apparent than real, because the 

 Black Ducks have more than doubled their average yearly numbers from 

 the first period to the second, while the Mallards are on an average a little 

 less than twice as numerous. It is therefore probable that the Mallard is 

 not holding out so well in this region as is the Black Duck. 



