immature ducks which are highly vulnerable to hunting in the vicin¬ 
ity of the banding station, and the proportion of recoveries of 
adult waterfowl occurring in Canada was smaller. 
The proportion of recoveries occurring south of the United States 
was relatively small for most banding regions and most species. The 
proportion of recoveries of ducks banded in Alaska and Canada that 
occurred in countries south of the United States was more consistent 
and usually larger than the proportion of recoveries from bandings in 
the United States. The percentage of blue-winged teals killed in 
regions south of the United States was more than 5 times as large as 
that for any other species, averaging 24 percent of recoveries from 
Canadian bandings and about 18 percent from bandings in the United 
States. 
The distribution of recoveries suggests locations of migration 
routes, but such data must be treated with caution because variations 
in timing of migration, hunting pressure, and other factors may 
influence the proportion of birds killed to those present in a given 
location. Mallards from the Prairie Provinces appeared to move on a 
broad front diagonally to the southeast through the Central to the 
Mississippi Flyway. Blue-winged teals may follow a somewhat similar 
route although perhaps in a more easterly direction as indicated by 
the relatively greater number of recoveries in the Dakotas and 
Minnesota than for the mallards. Pintails and shovelers appeared to 
move more directly south or southwest, thus producing more recoveries 
in the Central and Pacific Flyways. 
Recoveries from bandings near the southern edge of the breeding 
range indicate that movement from these regions can be best charac¬ 
terized as a random movement in all directions subject to available 
habitat. Most recoveries were from the general region of banding, 
but the scattering of other recoveries usually obscured any migratory 
pattern that may exist. Ducks from the prairie regions of the United 
States and Canada appeared to migrate to the Atlantic Flyway by three 
distinct routes. Canvasbacks, lesser scaups, and widgeons move through 
the region of the Great Lakes to New York and then south through 
Pennsylvania to Chesapeake Bay. Further movement south to as far 
as North Carolina is probably coastal. Mallards from North Dakota, 
Minnesota, and other regions adjacent to the Great Lakes enter the 
Atlantic Flyway via the Great Lakes route. However, recoveries in 
the Atlantic Flyway from mallards banded in western Manitoba and in 
Saskatchewan were mostly in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. The 
frequency of recoveries in Tennessee from western Manitoba and 
Saskatchewan suggested that mallards in the southern end of the Atlantic 
Flyway reach there via the Tennessee River Valley. The frequency of 
recoveries in Florida, particularly from those regions where other 
recoveries in the Atlantic were lacking, suggests that a few ducks of 
most species reach Florida by moving eastward along the Gulf Coast. 
Thus, all routes used by interior ducks to reach the Atlantic Flyway 
as well as the distribution of recoveries within the Flyway, indicate 
10 
