Lesser scaups 
Recoveries of lesser scaups from various banding areas indicate 
distributions of kill that were different from most other species in 
that they occurred over a broad area (tables 10 and 19). Recoveries 
within the United States from bandings in Alaska were almost equally 
divided among the three western Flyways, with 6 percent in the 
Atlantic Flyway. Most recoveries from bandings in British Columbia 
were in the Pacific Flyway, but only 9 percent of recoveries from 
bandings in Alberta occurred there. Alberta and Saskatchewan con¬ 
tributed primarily to the kill in the Central and Mississippi Flyways 
with largest numbers being shot in Minnesota, Louisiana, and Texas. 
All recoveries in the Atlantic Flyway originated from bandings 
north of the United States. The proportion of recoveries in the 
Atlantic Flyway was not large for any banding area, with a maximum 
of about 7 percent from bandings in Saskatchewan and Mackenzie. 
Northernmost recoveries in the Atlantic Flyway were in New York, 
but most were from southern portions of the Flyway with those from 
Florida exceeding the total in other States. 
Discussion 
The geographical distribution of recoveries of the various 
species of waterfowl reveal broadly similar aspects. These include 
the gradual east to west shifting of recoveries corresponding to 
similar shifting of the banding location, and the concentration of 
recoveries in the State, Province or flyway of banding. Generally, 
the distribution of recoveries of dabbling ducks had more similarity 
to each other than they did to diving ducks. However, the distri¬ 
butions of recoveries reveal many marked differences between species, 
particularly in the proportions of recoveries that occurred in the 
different flyways, in Canada, and in countries to the south of the 
United States. These differences strongly reflect fundamental differences 
in migration routes and wintering areas. However, it must be remembered 
that a band recovery represents a bird shot. Thus, regional variation 
in the vulnerability of a species to shooting may bias estimates of 
the size of populations that migrate to various wintering areas. 
Factors that affect vulnerability to shooting include timing of 
migration, the desirability of a species as compared to other species 
available to hunters in a given region, and variation in hunting 
pressure. 
The gradual shifting west or east of the kill with corresponding 
changes in the location of banding is best illustrated by recoveries 
8 
