
MISSISSIPPI FLYWAY 
Table 4 - Progress of Nesting Season (Percent of Lone Males Determined 
from Pintails, Mellards, Canvasback in Southern Manitoba), May 1 
Total 
Year Stratum id Stratum ae = had Stratum a ttg tat 
1956 73.Th 83 6h 79 oli 
1957 86 05% 91 5% 89 2% 

Production Indices - 
The 1957 duck brood index was 142.6 percent above last 
year. We would expect certain increases in the brood index due 
to the early nesting season. However, the increases were too large 
to credit to the time factor of early hatching broods alone. Along 
with this we then could expect a reduction in the late nesting index. 
This also occurred to the extent of a reduction by 44 percent in our late 
nesting index from last year. 
Class II and III broods this year averaged 5.6 ducklings 
per brood compared to 5.1 ducklings per brood a year ago. This 
also points toward a better production season. 
In the May survey coots were off 48 percent from last year. 
The coot brood index jumped to an almost impossible figure of plus 
912.5 percent over last year. Difficulty was experienced last year 
in seeing the coot broods and yet we knew they were there from ground 
observations. This year apparently we saw them readily and thus the 
figures may be misleading. Our best appraisal of the situation is 
that the coot production was sizeable and there should be an excellent 
flight of coots from this area. 
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