Bandings with their associated direct and indirect recoveries 
(first hunting season and second or later hunting season recoveries, 
respectively) are summarized by reference area in table 22. These 
reference areas are geographical regions from which the distribution 
of recoveries was relatively homogeneous. The characteristics of 
each reference area are described in detail in a subsequent section 
of this report. More than 75 percent of bandings were from the 
prairies and parklands extending from Alberta to western Manitoba 
in southern Canada. This region provides the largest segment of 
mallards for the Central and Mississippi Flyways, and perhaps also 
for the Pacific and Atlantic Flyways. 
Chronology 
Bandings are summarized by year in table 23. Few bandings 
before 1950 were available for this study, because the term "local" 
was not used as an age designation until then. Banding effort 
increased after 1954, reaching a peak in 1957 and 1958. The 
decrease in bandings from 1959 to 1961 may reflect the lower pro¬ 
duction of young in recent years. 
Although banding effort varied in time and intensity among 
regions, in most areas bandings span several years, including those 
of high waterfowl populations in the mid-fifties and the subsequent 
years of low populations which still persist. Thus, the bandings 
presently available for analysis can be viewed as a composite of 
various population levels and habitat conditions, realizing, of course, 
that the end result is more closely related to high population levels 
and good habitat conditions, since these situations have produced 
larger banded samples. 
Sex ratios 
The sex composition of the combined banded samples of normal 
and dog-caught birds was 51.34 percent males to 48.66 percent females 
(table 24). Although the difference from a 50:50 sex ratio is slight, 
it is highly significant (p<.0005). The imbalance in favor of males 
was consistent from area to area, and males predominated in all regions 
in which the banded sample exceeded 500 birds. I am not certain, 
however, that the sample reflects the actual sex composition of the 
population, because males may reach a bandable size at a younger age 
than females and thus contribute a bias to the estimates. Errors 
in sexing young birds would not explain the difference, for when such 
errors occur, they probably favor females. 
13 
