
sides, swinging at least 20 feet up on dry shore and out beyond the emergent 
vegetation. Before the two men met at the far side, the broods had usually 
broken out into the open where they could be counted. The swings up on dry 
shore were to discourage the broods from doubling back around the beaters on 
the shoreward side of the vegetation. Although there are many regions where 
broods spend much time on the uplands, four years of continuous foot travel, 
two of them with a dog, found no broods more than 20 yards from a water area 
at Waubay, except those few that had attempted escape overland during the 
"beat-out". 
On large overgrown areas, broods were driven into one end by both men 
zigzagging back and forth across the pothole, working toward the far end as 
shown in figure 24 (B). When the broods were forced into one end, the hens 
would flush, giving away the presence of their broods by feigning injury. 
There were often enough young captured so that the age of most of the broods 
could be determined. Most such areas were under 10 acres in size, and it is 
believed that coverage was good, although censusing of the larger areas by 
this means may have missed a few broods. 
The large open-water potholes which could not be “beaten out" efficiently 
were censused by concealed observation for an hour or more in the early morning 
or evening. Provided the weather was calm, these were periods of peak activity 
—-———_ lst beater e— lst beater 
g*— 2d beater 


ed beater 
arate! Bt 2b. 
Figure 24.--BEAT-OUT METHOD OF COUNTING BROODS. 
A. Beat out of open-water area. 3B. Beat out of overgrown area. 
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