4 BITLLETIX 936, TJ. S. DEPAETVEEXT OE AGRICULTURE. 
gadwall, ruddy duck, pintail, and green-winged teal. The widgeon 
and blue-winged teal are only tolerably common, and the canvas- 
back, a species that is decidedly rare in summer, is included on the 
authority of A. O. Treganza. of Salt Lake City; one additional 
species, the lesser scaup duck, is probably casual in its nesting here. 
On June 12. the writer, with his assistant. T. E. Griesa. found a male 
of this species near Long Point on Xorth Bay. ThisHnrd passed and 
repassed a dozen times or more, circling about as ducks do when their 
nests are approached. Other scaup ducks were seen during the entire 
summer, but these birds remained in the open bays below the marshy 
areas and it was certain that they were nonbreeding individuals. 
It is a common thing for a few ducks of this species to pass the 
summer in regions far south of their breeding range, but in the 
instance mentioned there is little question that the male seen was a 
breeding bird. 
In the enumeration of the breeding ducks of this area the entire 
region described under the general account of the Bear Biver marshes 
was covered as carefully as practicable between May 15 and June 26. 
Dependence was placed only in part upon birds seen in open water: 
each channel was traversed by boat or on foot, and extensive marsh 
areas were tramped in search for nests (PI. II. fig. 1) or nesting birds. 
In some cases favorable localities were covered two or three times in 
order to check the results obtained. Ducks continue to breed until 
a much later date, but these delayed birds are probably those whose 
first nests have in some way been destroyed. Cinnamon teals only 
four or five days old were seen August 8. and redheads less than a 
third grown were common as late as September 7 : a large number of 
young redheads were unable to fly until after September 25. An 
attempt to continue a count of the breeding ducks in this region after 
July 1. however would fail entirely to give an adequate conception of 
the number present earlier in the season. 
The figures given in tabulating the final results of the counts are 
approximate : the enumerations were conservative, and it is believed 
that the results are sufficiently accurate, allowance being made for 
not more than 40 per cent of error. Greater accuracy can hardly be 
claimed in work of this sort except on small areas covered minutely. 
Ducks are adept at hiding, especially where vegetation is heavy, and 
often allow persons to pass within a few feet without flushing. Thus 
the examination of marsh areas through glasses from a distance is 
unsatisfactory, as many birds readily pass unnoticed. The results of 
the enumeration of breeding birds are given in the following table, 
the species being arranged in the order of their abundance : 
