Conecrvation Officers in Hanitobea run cance transects ae well aa car 
troantecte. Their finding on twa cf Manitoba's important large marsh units 
curing two years are summarized in the following table. 
1948 “949 
Netley Deita . ‘Netley Delta 
May June Nay June ; May June May June 
Dacks per Mile 29.5 15.6 51.9 59.6 56.1 21.4 94.8 40,1 
During both years, Delts marsh held & marked superiority over Netley 
mareh. This can be explained by the 1942 flood on Netley (the Delta of the 
Ped River} which prevented successful nesting. This year Netley marsh was in 
Anml shape physically, but ite breeding stock remained Low, the logical foallow- 
up to last year's production failure. 
These inventories show how May counts on large marshes often are padded 
hy migrating ecaup. At Netley in May 1948, 50 percent of the hirds covated 
were bluebille. Ey early June, ecaup composed only 25 percent. In 1948, an 
even @¢Treater drop wae noted, from 45 percent of 4 percent. Likewise, at Delta 
in 1945 ecaup numbers were reduced by more tian haif from May to June. However, 
.in 1949, May counts at Delta evidently were Jate enough to miss the main weve 
of migrante. While there was a reduction in the number of sacaup recorded, the 
proportion of scaup to other sanecles remained the same. 
In 1649, for the first time, conservation officers in northern Manitcha 
were acked to furnish data on arrival and nesting dates and abundaoce compared 
to the previous year. We hope in the future to expand this phase of the 
annual waterfowl breeding inventor. 
70 
