
Estimates of breeding populations and production success are 
available for each of these strata. The problem is one of deter- 
mining what proportion of the population in each stratum moves to 
each.of the four flyways in the United States. 
Distribution of banding effort 
Beginning in 195) the banding crews were deployed with an ob« 
jective of obtaining a sample of "locals" distributed in proportion 
to the relative mimber of birds within each of the strata. Top 
priority was placed on the banding of Mallards. This was done for 
two reasons. First, the Mallard is the most important species on 
the continent so far as hunters are concerned. Secom, Mallard 
ducklings are difficult to catch--many broods will leave the water 
as soon as a banding crew approaches a pothole ami will covor sur- 
prising distances cross-country. Unless special methods are em- 
- ployed, it is believed that several of the less-important but more 
- easily banded species would make up most of the banded sample, 
The objective of distributing the banded sample throughout the 
prairie breeding areas has met with varying success. In parkland- 
type habitat "locals" of several species are difficult to catch, 
particularly Mallards. Road condition: have limited activities in 
some locations. For the purpose of illustrating the distribution 
of the "locals" which have been banded, the prairie breeding area 
has been divided into 80 one-degree blocks of latitude and longitude. 
Grids 1, 2, and 3 present the cumulative total of recoveries from 
each degree block. Areas which are undersampled will be poupnes ized 
during the 1957 banding operations. 3 
Summaries of bandings 
Tables 1A, 1B, and 1C summarize, by age and sex, all bamiings 
of waterfowl in the Provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba 
during the calendar years 1954, 1955, and 1956. 
‘Table 2 sriub the total bandings (age and sex lumped) by years 
' for each species in the three Provinces. From this table it will 
be seen that the total waterfowl of all species and of all ages 
and sexes barded in the three Provinces together has varied little 
from year to year: 195) - 26,5833 1955 = 26,257; 1956 ~ 27,86; 
Total ~ 80,686. The bandings by individual Province and by species, 
i however, have been quite different from year to year. Substantial | 
increases in some species in 1956 in Saskatchewan were offset by 
decreases in Manitoba and Alberta. 
