215 
Percent Composition 
The percentage that each species contributes to the 1954 population is blue-winged 
teal, 42 percent; pintail, 14 percent; mallard, 13 percent; scaup, 11 percent 
(probably 90 percent migrants); shoveler, 10 percent; gadwall, 5 percent; redhead, 
3 percent; ruddy, 1 percent; canvasback, baldpate, and green-winged teal, each less 
than 1 percent. 
Water Area Densities 
The aerial survey revealed a decrease of 36 percent in the 1954 state-wide 
abundance of water areas compared with the water area density of 1953 (Table III). 
The average state-wide density of water areas of all types was 4.64 areas per square 
mile in 1954 and 7.23 per square mile in 1953. The 1954 water area density is 22 
percent below the 1950-1953, four-year average of 5.93 water areas per square mile. 
Table III, - Physiographic Distribution of Total Water Areas, and 1953-1954 Trends. 

Physio- Total Water Areas 
graphic Per Square Mile 
Division i953. —t—<“‘i‘ CO;t;*;‘CY ‘SST Change 
Minnesota Valley 11. 32 8.81 - 22% 
Prairie Hills 11.81 10.61 : - 10% 
James River Valley 13,03 6.56 - 50% 
Missouri Hills 7.19 3.13 - 56% 
Missouri Plateau 3,68 2.49 - 32% 
State -wide* 7.23 4,64 - 36% 

* In 1954 based on twice the number of water areas and square miles 
sampled on the Missouri Plateau to compensate for the reduced 
coverage of the Missouri.Plateau. 
The changes in water area abundance in the various physiographic divisions 
of the State are shown in Table III. The reduction in water area density was general 
over the entire State, but was greatest in the central part, less severe in the west, and 
least severe in the east. The reduction in water area density was the most pronounced 
in the Missouri Hills which contained 56 percent fewer water areas than in 1953 and in 
the James River Valley which had a 50 percent reduction in water areas. On the 
Missouri Plateau water areas were 32 percent less numerous than last year. In the 
east the Prairie Hills and Minnesota Valley had only 22 percent and 10 percent fewer 
water areas, respectively. 
