2 BTLLETIX 936, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 
facts has led more recently to the adoption of other compensatory 
measures to encourage our larger waterfowl. A number of extensive 
niarsh 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 o-ained 
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 Eiver marshes in Utah, spending 
the greater part of the time from July 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 Eiver, 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 (PI. 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. 33, 1917. 
2 Oberholser, Harry C, and W. L. McAtee, Waterfowl and Their Food riants in the 
Sandhill Fvegion of Nebraska : Tart I, Waterfowl in Nebraska : Part II, Wild-duck 
Foods of the Sandhill Region of Nebraska : U. S. Dept. Agr. Bull. 704, pp. 77, pis. 5 
(incl. 1 map), 1020. 
