49 
The "spread" we predicted in maturity of the 1953 waterfowl crop had 
certainly become a reality. Some broods hatched so late in the season that there 
was some danger of their being caught by freezing weather before they reached the 
flying stage. 
Non-Productive Hens 
Hens that.are in moult, or that join up with pre-moult flocks of drakes prior 
to mid-July, probably have lost their nests or broods, and can be considered non- 
productive for the season. Our banding crews ordinarily would keep records of the 
number of non-productive hens in the early moult. This year, however, our banding 
effort was concentrated on young ducks, rather than adult moulters, and therefore 
the 1953 banding records contain very little information on this subject. 
We therefore tried aerial sampling of pre-moult flocks of adults, recording 
hens-vs-drakes on a ''Dictaphone''. We found a high (30-40 percent) ratio of hens 
to drakes in some flocks of pintails, and a much smaller proportion of hens in pre- 
moult flocks of mallards. This bears out our conclusion that the pintail lost out on 
its first-nesting and failed to make a strong re-nesting effort. However, we feel 
that our sampling was tried a week or ten days too late, for pre-moult flocks of 
adults had reached unwieldy proportions (200 to 500 birds per flock) when our counts 
were made. A count made the last week in June, when flocks run 20-50 birds each, 
would have given us more reliable data. 
Forecast, August l 
"The 1953 Waterfowl Crop for Southern Saskatchewan will be substantial 
(forecast rating 184 out of a possible 300). - But the failure of the first-nesting of 
the pintail will prevent this year's crop from being exceptional." 
"While this 1953 crop is not So great as last year's phenomenal hatch, it has 
great spread in maturity, and should be more 'shootable'. The mallard will be the 
most abundant and most available duck this fall. However, some mallards will be 
scarcely mature by the time the hunting season opens in Canada, and there may be 
some very late migrants to the United States." 
"The pintail will fall far short of its fall, 1952 population, but the pintails we 
do have may be more available to U. S. hunters. The great, early-maturing pintail 
hatch of last year apparently migrated too early to give our northern States much 
pintail shooting. We are having a fair late hatch of pintails this year, not large, 
but still twice as good as last year, and these late-maturing pintails will not be 
ready to move south until seasons are open in the United States." 
"All other species of surface ducks are enjoying the same strong nesting 
success as last year, and some divers, especially canvasback and scaup, are having 
an extra-good season." 
"Improvement in the southeastern Parklands (Sub-stratum ''A"' - East) of 
Saskatchewan has been pronounced this year, and we expect the Mississippi Flyway 
to benefit from a late put substantial hatch of mallards and other surface ducks 
from this region." 
