292 
Breeding Population Trends and Success of the Season 
Breeding population counts by the "100 percent aerial count" method for 1952 
are shown in Table I. A map showing the location of the various aerial census units 
and the ground study areas is included. From the graph and Table I, both of which 
show the results of the monthly aerial counts, it will be seen that for all months 
except May there was some increase in waterfowl] population as compared with 1951. 
The small decrease in May is probably the result of many females not being seen 
because they were incubating and does not reflect any actual decrease in the 
breeding stock. 
The data obtained by the aerial transect method are in Table II. They are 
included, even though no comparable data exist for Delaware, since it is felt that 
they may be of some significance when compared with data from the same ecological 
types in other States. 
In addition to information obtained by aerial methods, a further check on 
breeding populations was obtained by repeating ground studies on two of the three 
areas covered last year. Unfortunately it was impossible to obtain accurate 
information on the southernmost ground study area. Data obtained this year are 
in Table III and are compared with the data from the same areas for 1951. 
Table III - Comparison of Brood Production on Ground Study Areas in 
Delaware - 1951 and 1952 
No. Broods No. in Broods Av. per Brood 

Area Species 1951 1952 1951 +1952 1951 1952. 
Dragon Run Black duck 0 1 0 5 0 5.0 
Wood Duck 1 5 6 28 6.0 5.6 
Primehook Black duck 12 15 84 96 7.0 6.7 
Neck Wood duck 1 5 6 32 6.0 6.4 
B-w. teal 1 2 8 14 8.0 7.0 
Assawoman * Black duck 3 ? 15 ? 5.0 ? 

*While no regular study was possible this year in the Assawoman tract, it is 
known that at least two broods of black ducks and one of wood ducks were 
produced. 
During the monthly aerial counts made in both 1951 and 1952, broods were 
tallied as seen. A comparison of the June counts for the two years is shown in 
Table IV, 
From the data in Table IV it will be seen that brood size was somewhat 
smaller in 1952, but that there were more broods, and therefore greater total 
production. Probably the most accurate brood data are those in Table III. 
Combining the figures from this table for Dragon Run and Primehook Neck are the 
following: 


1951 1952 
15 broods 28 broods 
104 young 175 young 
6.93 - average brood 6.25 - average brood 
