Number of Wing Envelopes Sent to Hunters 
The number of envelopes sent to each hunter depended on the 
number of ducks he had reported in the Mail Questionnaire Survey. 
Each hunter who reported 20 ducks or fewer was sent three more 
envelopes than the number of ducks he had reported killing. Hunters 
who had reported more than 20 ducks were sent 25 envelopes. We hoped 
that by this system nearly all hunters would have as many envelopes 
as they could use. 
Examination of the Wings 
Envelopes for the wings were addressed to the State Game Farm, 
Poynette, Wisconsine When the wings arrived there, the Wisconsin 
Department of Conservation received them and stored them in a freezer 
until the time for examination. 
A total of 10,545 wings was received from the Mississippi Flyway 
in response to letters requesting their cooperation (Table 1). Of these, 
67 were from geese, coots, grebes, and pheasants, and are not considered 
further in this report. An additional 21 wings were improperly cut or 
disfigured in some manner and could not be identified to species. In 
addition, 65 wings were received from outside the Flyway (Table 2) and 
117 wings were received from volunteers within the Flyway who were not 
sent request letters (Table 3). 
Complete identification of all species was not possible. The 
two goldeneyes (Common and Barrow's) were not separated. Three 
mottled ducks were identified in the Louisiana sample; others may 
have been present, but if so, they were classified as black ducks. 
There may have been some confusion between female common and female 
red-breasted merganserse Common and scientific names of all species 
encountered are given in Table 4 A number of black duck x mallard 
hybrids were identified, but because all gradations between the two 
species appeared to exist among the sample wings, this separation was 
somewhat arbitrary. Wings from all other species could be identified. 
Examination of wings and recording of data were done by an 
"assembly line" of personnel from many of the States and from the 
Fish and Wildlife Service. Two sessions were held: December 9-12, 
1959 and February 1-6, 1960. During these sessions, the envelopes 
were sorted according to species and the A.Q.U. number of the species 
was stamped on the envelope. Wings from each species then were 
examined separately to determine age and sexe These data were re- 
corded by circling the appropriate figures in a form that had been 
added to the envelopes by hand stamping. All age and sex determinations 
were verified by at least one biologist who was thoroughly familiar 
with the procedure. 

