109 
The most important species of breeding waterfowl are shown in the table 
below, arranged according to their order of abundance. 
Table I. - List of Breeding Waterfowl in Numerical Rank in Total Population 
Observed during the past Three Years 
Rank. 1953 1952 1951 
1 Black duck Black duck Blue-winged teal 
2 Mallard Ring-necked duck Black duck 
3 Blue-winged teal Blue-winged teal Common goldeneye 
4 wommon merganser wommon goldeneye Coot 
5 woot Mallard Mallard 
6 Wood duck Wood duck Lesser scaup 
7 Common goldeneye Toot Ring-necked duck 
8 Ring-necked duck Common merganser Wood duck 
During the past two years the black duck has been the most abundant breeder 
in southern Ontario. The mallard has undoubtedly increased in abundance during 
the present year. The ring-necked duck dropped from the second most abundant 
duck seen in 1952 to eighth in rank this year. On the Conroy marsh area, its best 
breeding ground, Lumsden found that the population has slightly increased. As 
indicated in last year's report the ring-necked duck ranked second in abundance in 
1952 largely because of the results of an additional survey not available during 1951. 
The data for 1953 and 1952 are comparable. 
(b) Brood Success; - The following table gives a record of the broods observed 
by all three observers and, in addition, those reported for the area by correspondents 
taking part in the Quarterly Report on Waterfowl Conditions. 

Table II. - Brood Records and Comparison with other Years 
1953 1952 1951 
“No. Average No. Average No. Average. 
Species Broods’ Size Broods Size Broods 51ze 
Black duck 30 5.4 37 6.3 6 5.4 
Mallard 19 5.8 19 5. 7 Zz 4.5 
B-w. teal 8 6.4 9 8.6 1 6.0 
Wood duck 10 4,0 19 5.8 2 7.6 
Goldeneye 12 4.7 22 oe | 8 1a 
Ringneck 44 5.6 58 5.3 19 5.9 
Common merganser 2 9.0 11 6.0 4 4.2 
woot 3 5,0 2 3,0 6 Sao 
em ea a a a 
From the above figures (when sufficient samples are available) it would appear 
that there has been little change in the last three years' brood success of any of the 
species of waterfowl under consideration. 
