wide area, including some places outside Minnesota. Since the age 
ratio from the locker-plant examinations was less than one immature 
per adult, it seems likely that most of the birds came from the 
southern half of Minnesota, where the age ratio determined from the 
wing collection was 0.73 immature per adult (Figure 5). Age ratios 
obtained from bag checks at the Roseau River Refuge in extreme 
northern Minnesota were much higher: 2.24 immatures per adult in a 
sampte of 402 ducks. In the wing collection, the age ratio in mallards 
from the area that includes the Roseau River Refuge was 2.93 immatures 
per adult (Figure 5). Thus, both the locker-plant and bag-check data 
in Minnesota agree well with the age ratio data from the wing collection. 
In Ohio, bags checked at the Erie Marsh (Bednarik, in a letter of 
July 18, 1960) contained 1.5 immatures per adult. This ratio is very 
close to the ratio of 1.55 immatures per adult found in the wing 
collection sample from Ohio. 
In Illinois, the mallard age ratio in samples of the hunting 
kill in the area near the mouth of the Illinois River was 0.43 immature 
per adult, somewhat lower than the ratio of 0.64 found in the Illinois 
wing-collection samples. The age ratio among 75 wings from Jersey and 
Calhoun counties, adjacent to the mouth of the Illinois River, was 
0.60 immatures per adulte The bag-check data for Illinois did not 
include data for opening day which could have contributed to this 
disagreement. 
There was a ratio of 0.6 immature per adult in a sample of 1,283 
ducks taken at the Duck Creek Wildlife Management Area near Puxico, 
Missouri. This is a slightly higher ratio than the 0.51 immature per 
adult in the wing collection sample from Missouri, but is almost the 
same as the age ratio in the wing collection sample of 138 mallard 
wings from hunters in counties adjacent to the Mississippi River. 
At Stuttgart, Arkansas, from November 30 to December 1, locker- 
plant checks revealed 0.3 immature per adult. This ratio agrees 
almost perfectly with the ratio of 0.27 found in the small wing- 
collection sample of 52 wings from the Stuttgart area (Figure 5). 
The Louisiana Wild Life and Fisheries Commission found an average 
age ratio of 0.54 in bag checks in several parts of the State (Smith, 
1960). This ratio seems to agree well with the ratio of 0.61 immature 
per adult in the wing collection from Louisiana. The bag checks, 
however, revealed pronounced differences in age ratios between northern 
and coastal portions of the State. Since the wing collection did not 
sample northern Louisiana to the same extent as did the bag checks, 
the age ratios are not entirely comparable. 
~26- 
