274 Union Bay 



What is man doing to the waterfowl population? Ducks, 

 geese, and swans have withstood the attacks of man since 

 history began— what changes have occurred that might make 

 me think that the birds could not successfully withstand 

 man's attacks in the future? Ducks are decreasing in number, 

 man's predation increasing. Has man, in the face of curtailed 

 breeding grounds, smaller winter areas, and limited migra- 

 tion facilities, accepted the situation by reducing the pres- 

 sure on the wild fowl? 



I thought that an examination of the duck stamp figures 

 might answer that question. In 1935, when duck stamps were 

 first issued, approximately 600,000 were sold, all to hunters, 

 with the exception of a few purchased by stamp collectors 

 and nonhunters who wished to indicate their approval of the 

 movement. By 1940 the number had risen to 1,100,000. Al- 

 though complete figures have not been received, present in- 

 dications are that the sales for the season of 1950 will reach 

 or probably exceed 2,000,000. The national kill for 1947 was 

 estimated at 12,000,000 birds, for 1948 it was 17,000,000, and 

 for 1949 the estimate was 18,500,000. Can any logical think- 

 ing justify a conclusion that our rapidly shrinking wild fowl 

 winter, migration, and breeding districts can stand the in- 

 creasing intensity of such pressure? I find no grounds for 

 such optimism. I remember that in 1937 the waterfowl 

 population dropped below 40,000,000. 1 have noted the prac- 

 tical exhaustion of the ring-necked pheasant supply in the 

 Dakotas— a supply which friends who annually hunted there 

 had assured me was inexhaustible. I know that modern man 

 can build rapidly but there has never been a time when effi- 

 cient production could keep up with mass destruction. I 

 realized that factors other than man's hunting affected the 

 wild fowl supply. These factors constantly closed in and 

 grew in importance just as the pressure of the city constantly 

 closed in on the marsh. How, then, could man erect an al- 

 most continuous wall of shotguns between the breeding and 



