Just how to interpret banding recoveries from the vicinity 
of the banding station is a knotty problem indeed. Considerable 
distortion occurs in the over-all data due to the extreme variations 
in the "take" around the banding stations. Some of the factors having 
a bearing on this may be variations in hunting pressure, baiting, 
location of trapping or baiting in relation to hunting areas, and 
perhaps variations in the habits of the birds themselves. With such 
local influences causing distortion, one is tempted to disregard the 
local kill and use only those records that portray movement. In some 
instances this might be justified but in a report dealing with the 
entire range of a species not all situations lend themselves to this 
approach particularly where sedentary popuiations are involved. To 
partially offset this disturbance and to put the various stations on 
a more nearly equal basis where direct or same-season recoveries are 
concerned, more emphasis is given in this report to recoveries from 
ducks banded before the shooting season and to recoveries in subsequent 
fall periods (indirect). 
3. Bandings during the shooting season: 
All indireet recoveries or those taken during subsequent shooting 
seasons from this group of bandings in the United States have been 
used. Both direct and indirect recoveries from Canadian bandings 
during the shooting season have been used, since the problems of 
loeal shooting in conjunction with bait trapping are small or non- 
existent. Because of the possible variation and complications between 
stations arising from shooting in the vicinity of active bait traps, 
direct or same-season recoveries from bandings during the shooting 
season are not used for comparative purposes. These latter records 
are considered as a special group and are referred to in the report 
for supplemental information only. 
4. Pre-hunting-season bandings: 
These include birds banded in the fall up to 5 days before the local 
hunting season begins. All fall shooting recoveries from these band- 
ings have been tabulated and most of them are mapped and fully consid- 
ered in the report. 
5. Indirect recoveries from bandings during the winter and 
spring are considered fully. 
6. For the sake of consistency, only those recoveries during 
the fall due to shooting are used. Unless there was reason to believe 
otherwise, birds noted as "found dead" or "found injured" during the — 
open season were considered as deaths due to shooting. Reeoveries in> 
the spring illustrate the movement northward to the breeding ground i 
are not included in this report. 
