Comparison of Species Composition in the Kill as Shown by the 
Wing Collection and the Mail Questionnaire Survey 
A comparison of the species compositions shown by the two surveys 
was feasible for only seven States of the Flyway because wing-collection 
samples from some States were too small or not geographically repre- 
sentativee Results of the comparison are shown in Table 29. Data in 
the table were weighted by the methods described earlier. 
The accuracy of the data from the wing collection was reduced to 
the extent that hunter response was skewed toward the start of the 
seasone The accuracy of the data from the Questionnaire depended on 
the hunters' ability to recognize the species they shot and to re- 
member the number of each until the season had closed. In spite of 
these weaknesses in the data of both surveys, both showed quite 
similar species composition in the kill. Both surveys indicated that 
the mallard, lesser scaup, green-winged teal, and blue-winged teal, 
in that order, were the four most abundant species taken in the kill. 
Among the top four species, the wing collection suggested that 
the mallard was slightly less abundant and the blue-winged teal 
substantially less abundant than did the Mail Questionnaire Survey. 
Among the less numerous species, ring-necked ducks, American widgeon, 
and gadwall made up a substantially greater fraction of the kill in 
the wing collection than was reported in the Mail Questionnaire Survey. 
The incidence of canvasbacks in the kill was only half as great in the 
wing collection as in the Mail Questionnaire Survey. 
The species compositions shown by the wing collection and that 
reported on the Mail Questionnaire Survey also were compared for 
those individual States where the wing collection was of suitable 
geographic distribution and size (Table 30). As in the previous 
comparison, over-all agreement was good, although there were some 
differences. 
The largest and most consistent differences between results of 
the two surveys were that the proportions of mallards and blue-winged 
teal were higher on the Mail Questionnaire Survey, and the proportions 
of gadwalls, American widgeon, and ringnecks usually were much Lower. 
The wing collection indicated a much higher proportion of ringnecks 
in the kill in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa and Ohio than did 
the Mail Questionnaire Survey. Results of the two surveys were similar 
for Illinois. Relatively fewer ringnecks occurred in the wing-collection 
sample from Missouri than were reported on the Mail Questionnaire Survey. 
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