2 BULLETIN 936, U. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE. 



facts has led more recently to the adoption of other compensatory 

 measures to encourage our larger waterfowl. A number of extensive 

 marsh areas have been made permanent refuges under the guardian- 

 ship of the United States Department of Agriculture, and many 

 private preserves, some of them formed by artificial means, have 

 been established, where the birds are protected while nesting and are 

 shot under more or less rigid local restrictions during designated 

 open seasons for hunting. As a means of cooperating in such 

 efforts to maintain and increase the numbers of our waterfowl, the 

 Biological Survey has undertaken investigations of the general con- 

 ditions under which wild ducks live and thrive, coupled with counts 

 of the numerical abundance of these birds in different areas varying 

 in character. Much of this needed information has been gained 

 through studies of the foods and general activities of our native wild 

 ducks. Several bulletins dealing with favored duck foods that may 

 be introduced or propagated in many areas where they are at present 

 unknown have been issued, 1 and one enumerating the breeding ducks 

 and the available duck foods of lakes in the sandhill region of 

 Nebraska has been published. 2 



During three summer seasons the writer was engaged in field work 

 dealing with wild ducks in the Bear River marshes in Utah, spending 

 the greater part of the time from Jury 15 to October 23, 1914 ; May 

 18 to October 20, 1915 ; and May 15 to October 25, 1916, on this work. 

 Extended observations and notes were made during the entire period, 

 and in 1916 a* count of the breeding ducks found in this area was 

 made in as detailed a manner as practicable. In the following report 

 is embodied a general account of observations and studies on the 

 numbers and abundance of waterfowl, their food supplies, and the 

 general conditions under which such birds live in that region. 



GENERAL ACCOUNT OF THE BEAR RIVER MARSHES. 



Bear River, the largest of the three main tributaries draining 

 into Great Salt Lake, flows into the northern end of that body of 

 water. Before reaching the saline waters of the lake proper the main 

 stream of the river (PL I) breaks up into several branches, which 

 in turn subdivide into minor channels, the whole forming a great 

 delta embracing marshes grown with dense vegetation and open 

 barrens of alkaline earth or mud. The silt-charged stream of the 

 main river has filled in around its mouths, leaving two main lake 



1 McAtee, W. L., Eleven Important Wild-Duck Foods: U. S. Dept. Agr. Bull. 205, pp. 25, 

 figs. 23, 1915; McAtee, W. L., Propagation of Wild-duck Foods: U. S. Dept. Agr. Bull. 

 465, pp. 40, figs. 35, 1917. 



2 Oberholser, Harry C, and W. L. McAtee, Waterfowl and Their Food riants in the 

 Sandhill Region of Nebraska: Part I, Waterfowl in Nebraska; Tart II, Wild-duck 

 Food- of the Sandhill Region of Nebraska: U. S. Dept. Agr. Bull. 794, pp. 77, pis. 5 

 (incl. 1 map), 1920. 



