+ RE = cine 
The conspicuous feature of the nesting population as in 
1958 was the great number of birds in flocks consisting of both 
drakes and hens. ‘hile this was not quite so prevalent for ducks 
as in 1956 (table 2), coots remained flocked throughout the survey 
period and very few were seen dispersed as nesting pairs. The May 
population shoved a considerable decrease from 1958 (table 2) and 
was slightly below the nine-year average. This reduction was more 
conspicuous in stratum "A" than in well-watered stratum "B." 
\ 
Tables 3 and 4 indicate the status of the various species. 
Blue-winged teal, shoveller and ringneck are the only 
species to show an increase. Decreases were most noticeable in the 
pintail, baldpate and canvasback. 
Table 5 gives an indication of the status of the various 
species during the last seven years. Blue-winged teal and ring- 
neck are at their peak with shovellers close to their peak. Scaup 
and canvasback in 1959 were at the second lowest numbers recorded, 
while pintails are at their lowest. In the more important species, 
there is a definite trend toward a reduction from the high years. 
Coot population, as shown in table 6, show a surprising 
trend. They are at an all-time high in Manitoba, mainly clustered 
in well-watered stratum "B." However, as pointed out above, there 
was no evidence of nesting during the period of the survey, May 
9-21. 
The bulk of the population was retarded in nesting as 
evidenced by the percentage of lone males observed in the early 
nesting species (table 7). In spite of the early breakup and 
early arrivals of the birds, the percentage of mallards, pintails, 
and canvasbacks observed as lone males was the lowest in the last 
seven years. This is taken as an indication that productivity 
would be reduced by retarded nesting. 
116 
