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Table VI - Mallard-Pintail Brood Relationships, 1948-1952 

Species 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 
Percent Mallard 24 43 69 40 27 
Percent Pintail 76 57 31 60 73 
Total 100 100 100 100 100 
Summary 
The 1952 Alberta waterfowl breeding season has been an outstanding 
success. An excellent moisture hold-over from 1951, plentiful precipitation 
during the summer months, and an increased waterfowl breeding population have 
combined with reduced agricultural activity during the critical nesting period to 
provide an excellent waterfowl crop. Breeding populations increased about 
21 percent over 1951 figures and Provincial production increased about 87 percent. 
The prairies invariably raise the greatest crop of waterfowl if moisture conditions 
are at all favorable. This year the semi-arid southern prairies raised nearly 
6 times more broods than a year ago and the total prairie production rose 
158 percent. 
Improvements in field methods and techniques since our initial surveys 
in 1947, leads us to believe that 1952 has been a more successful season than any 
year in the last six. Production surveys have been accentuated in the last 2 years 
which makes our recent data of greater value and reliability than that obtained in 
1948, the only year in the past six when waterfowl populations compare favorably 
with those in 1952. 
