INTRODUCTION 
A convention between the United States and Great Britain for 
the protection of migratory birds was signed in 1916, and a similar 
convention between the United States and Mexico became law in 1936. 
The treaty with Mexico includes the phrase '".. . . by means of 
adequate methods which will permit, insofar as the respective high 
contracting parties may see fit, the utilization of said birds rationally 
for purposes of sport, ... .''. The Act which implements the 
treaties in the United States contains the following directive: '". . to 
determine when, to what extent, if at all, and by what means, it is 
compatible with the terms of the conventions to allow hunting gb tet sewue 
The problem of determining when, and to what extent, water- 
fowl can be used rationally for sport is a complex one and demands that 
considerable information be available concerning migration patterns, 
current population status of the various species, and the effect of hunt- 
ing on the population. In order to meet their obligations in this respect, 
the Governments of Canada and the United States have conducted surveys 
and investigations for a number of years. During the past several years, 
three major fact-finding surveys have been conducted annually. These 
are: (1) a survey of the wintering areas during January to determine 
the number and distribution of birds remaining after the shooting season; 
(2) a survey of the breeding grounds during May, June, and July to 
determine the size and distribution of the breeding population and to 
determine changes in the production of young; and (3) a survey during 
the fall shooting season to measure the size of the kill of waterfowl in 
the United States. Also during the same period an extensive banding 
program was being carried out in some of the more important portions 
of the breeding grounds. Although this program is still underway, pre- 
liminary findings have established approximate relationships between 
various portions of the breeding grounds and the four management flyways 
into which the United States is divided. These data have provided a basis 
for accumulating the breeding ground survey data into a forecast of 
expected changes in the relative size of the fall flight of waterfowl in 
each of the flyways. 
This report is a summary of the results of the winter survey, 
the breeding ground survey, and the kill survey. These data are brought 
together for the purpose of supplying administrators with all factual 
information available concerning current waterfowl population status, and 
