and the ring-necksd duck showed notie¢sable incrssass for ths third yeal in a 
row, <A alight gain was noted for the goldsn-sys - thse first incersass recordsd 
in saveral yeara for this spaciag. Neither spacias of taal showed any increasse 
on the censnué areas. Howsyer, as has bean auphasized in pravicus reports, ths 
tsal ars not important breeding birds in Mains in any year, and thair numbere 
here haves little bearing on the tote] teal papulationa of ths Northsast. ven 
eo, it is the author's impression that, over the State as a whole, the atetus 
of the blue-wingsd teal is better than ths census studies indicates. 
In the following tabulation, the final cenaus figures for Maing in 1949 
(sxcluding merganssre) are praasntsd: 
Species Status in 1949 
1. Wood Duck 52% incrsass 
2, Ring-necked Duck 18% increases 
3, Black Duck 12% increase 
4. JAmsrican Golden-sys 5% incrseass 
5. Blus-wingsd Teal No change 
6, Gresn-winged Teal Ne change 
In Tables 1 @ breakdown of the population, by census areas, is given for 
the two most numerous species - the black duck and ths ring-neck. Thess date 
are presented for four years to ahow ths increasing trend sines ths low point 
of 1946. 
Ths Nesting Ssason 
Ths spring Beason throughout Maine in 1949 was warm, sunny, end relatively 
dry - tha latter being a desirable situation in waterfowl habitat of the North- 
aast. Ths lakes and strsams claarsd of ics much sarlisr than in an averegs 
year. The duck nesting season was sarlisr for all sapsacigss. 
Ths Unit's sample nesting study resulted in locating 104 duck nests of 6 
species; those of the ting-nscked duck and black duck made up 89 of the total, 
All but one of thess nests were kspt under periodic obasrvetion until hatched 
or destroyed, 
A total of 7l of tha nests (458 paresnt}) hatechsd. This figure was usarly 
squal to ths sxcaptionally high hatching sucesess of 1948 (71 peree|ant). Actually 
it rapresents a Bomewkat greater degree of productivity for 1949, bacauss this 
yoarts hatching success was based mainly on original nestings, wharsss last 
year's figures represented s large number of renestings - those renestings, oven 
theugh syceessful, resulted in amaller, late-hatched broods. 
Flood lossas ware almost non-existent this year, but pradation was sone- 
woat hearisr; prinecipsl offenders wers the raccoon, red fox, and mink. It waa 
of intsrast to note that crow depradations were very light this year, but 
losass by raccoons were the heaviest recorded in twelve years. The difference 
in predator pressurs by localities was strikingly shown on 2 of the widely 
Separated study areas. On 1, in central Maine, only 5 of 12 nesta (black duck 
end ring-neck) hatched; on ths other ares, in northern Mains, svery one of tha 
15 usetea (black duck, ring-neck, blue-winged teal) batched successfully. 
e215 
