not justified. The list included 8,076 hunters from 14 States of 
the Mississippi Flyway. The numbers of hunters from different 
localities are shown in the appendix. | 
The Mail Questionnaire Survey, from whose respondents our list 
was drawn, is conducted by the Bureau each year for the ptrpose of 
determining the number of birds killed, hunter activity, and certain 
Other facts concerning hunting. Persons included in this survey 
are chosen as follows: a certain number of post offices selling 
Migratory Bird Stamps are selected at random and the local post- 
master at each is requested to give each duck-stamp buyer a franked 
postcard on which the buyer is asked to provide his name and address. 
Each hunter who sends in a card is mailed a questionnaire shortly 
after the colse of the season in his State. Hunters who do not 
respond to the first questionnaire are sent a second one in about 
3 weeks. Approximately 70 per cent of the hunters who receive 
questionnaires ultimately return them. The number of names and 
addresses to which questionnaires are sent is approximately half 
of the number of stamps sold at the sample post offices. The reason 
is partly that some hunters do not send in the cards, but also partly 
that some stamp purchasers are not given cards and that some stamps 
are purchased for resale (a common occurrence in some areas). 
The Mail Questionnaire Survey was not designed originally to 
obtain duck kill estimates with narrow confidence limits for a 
single State. Consequently, despite the use of names of respondents 
from two years, only a small number of names and addresses was 
available for some States and for others the geographic distribution 
of the sample obviously was not representative of the State as a 
whole. 
The Wing Collection Envelope and Request Letter 
The wing-collection envelopes were: made of 32-pound Kraft 
paper, measured 8%'' x 11%", opened at the end, and had a center 
seam and a clasp fastening (Figure 1). Before these envelopes 
were sent to the hunters, a post office number (which identified 
the city in which the stamp was purchased) was placed on each. 
Another number placed on the envelope before mailing showed the 
number of ducks that particular hunter had reported on the Mail 
Questionnaire Survey. A third number, identifying the particular 
hunter, was added to envelopes sent to Arkansas, Illinois, Michigan, 
and Wisconsin. 
Each hunter's allotment of wing envelopes and an explanatory 
letter (Figure 2) were mailed to him in a 9%"' x 12" envelope. 
