208 
between the number of water areas present and the number of ducks in any given 
year in North Dakota. There is increasing evidence to the effect that water areas 
in North Dakota are utilized to somewhere near carrying capacity each year, so 
that the number of water areas especially those up to one acre in size determines 
the breeding population per square mile. 
The total number of ducks seen on transects dropped from 7, 440 to 6, 869 or 
8 percent which is approximately the same decrease as for total pairs. 
Success of the Season 
No intensive ground work was accomplished in North Dakota during the nesting 
or brooding season but as in South Dakota nesting conditions were favorable and 
enough rain fell in June and July to maintain an adequate supply of water for broods 
in most areas of the State. 
Brood transects were run on July 23 by Agents Jensen, Meyer and Jacobsen. 
Results of the 1952 brood counts compared to 1951 are as follows: 
Table V - Brood Count in North Dakota (85.9 Square Miles) 

No. of Broods Broods /Sq. Mi: Percent 
Species ~ 1951 1952 #921951 #2431952 Change 
B-w. teal 212 138 2.47 1.61 - 35 
Pintail 104 77 1.21 -90 - 26 
Mallard 51 48 0.59 56 - 6 
Ruddy duck 29 20 0.34 23 esi 
Gadwall 28 51 0.33 59 + 82 
Shoveler 28 13 0.33 15 ~ 54 
Redhead 22 15 0.26 17 - 32 
Canvasback 20 18 0.23 21 - 10 
Lesser scaup 15 6 0.17 . 07 - 60 
Baldpate 7 1 0.08 £«.901 - 86 
Unidentified 6 0 0.07 00 - 
Total 522 387 6.08 4.50 - 26 
The above data indicates a 26 percent decrease in broods while the breeding 
pair count was only down 7 percent. Actually, brood counts indicated a wide 
variance in different parts of the State as follows: 
Table VI - Numbers of Broods on Transects in North Dakota -- 1951-1952 
rr irs SSS SSS SSS SS 
Transect Number 1951 1952 Percent Change 
I : 72 61 - 15 
ILA 94 114 + 21 
TILA 78 40 - 49 
IV 148 79 - 47 
Vi 41 45 + 10 
VIA 39 23 - 41 
VIII 36 12 - 67 
XII. 14 13 - 7 
a I SS Ln 
