ei A i ees 
Ths figures in Table 3 iliustrats tha severity of the drought conm..tions 
on the prairise as well as in ths southern edges of the parklands (the trensi- 
tion zone}. Thsas figures illustrate thes lessening influence of the drought 
to the north and the changs from a loss of sizeable proportions in ths prairies 
to a gain in the perklends. With a 7? parecent decreases in water araas in ths 
parklands and a 59 percent incrsass in population, tha results wes 4 great 
incrsase in psrcantags of water ocetupancy, ag well as in individual population 
densities, 
Despite the increeasss of watsrfowl populations in ths parklands this sumer, 
40 psarcsnt decreass in total population waa racordsd for ground transects only. 
Thie, because of the greater populations representad by the 55 pereent deerseas 
on the prairiss. 
Farly in the course of tha survey, it became increasingly apparent that 
population densities incrsased aa ong progressed northward. Ths mileagss to 
be coversd and the fact that @11 transecta wera to bs rum twies, bafors June 24, 
prevented tha ground craw from extanding its work very much farther north of 
the formar tranascts to ascsrtain ths extent of ths inersagas to the north. 
Therefore, with a short period of four days with which te maks uas of 2 plans 
ita activitiss wera confined only te the asrial tranascts in ths northem park- 
lands, moat of which wers beyond the arsas of ground coverages. Thia proved 
ita yvalus, for in tweivs asrisl transscte for which wa hayes comparables data in 
1948, en inersage in bresding populations of waterfowl wae noted as follows: 
Tabls 4 
1948 1949 Changs 1949 
11.9 ducks per sq, mi. 22.9 ducks per sq. mi. +7114 
Intarsstingly snough, ths grsateat individual transect increess accurred in 
ths northern portion of ths arsa surveyed. Thres trensecta had over 160 percent 
ereater populationa than last year, two of theses over 200 percent. Howevar, 
in spite of thass increases, whan actual numbers of waterfowl are considsred, 
the over-all picturs for ths bresding areas of Alberta surveyed in 1949 by 
eround and air showed o 17.7 percent decrengs. Exceptionally lares increases 
in population of waterfowl arsas in the sxtreme northern argas of Alberta ars 
not included in this report and will be found in Robert H., Smith's report on 
the Arctic surveys. 
When total numbers are considered, pinteaile and shovslers showed the 
greatest individual] population lossas in Alberta study areas. Pintsails which 
make up tho largest singls speciss breeding in this Provines, did not syen show 
in¢rgasos in the parklands surveysd. However, the shoveler did show a 69 percent 
intrease thers, not snaugh, howevsr, to make up for the large prairis losses. 
Only the blue-wingsd teal showed an over-all gain in population of 17 psresnt. 
This £8 ths secqnd annual gain of liks preportions for this spocies, 
