Only 16 nesting efforts were observed on 
both marsh and stream habitat for blue- 
winged teal. 
One brood was recorded on 
the stream survey indicating production of 
blue-winged teal in the State to be insig- 
‘nificant, 
ATLANTIC FLYWAY 
WATERFOWL KILL SURVEY 
An estimated 764,300 ducks were bagged in 
the Atlantic Flyway during the 1962-63 water- 
fowl season, an increase of 3 percent over 
the previous season (table A-14), An ad- 
ditional 191,200 ducks were knocked down but 
not retrieved, yielding a total kill (bag plus 
cripples) of approximately 955,500 ducks, a 
decrease of 2 percent from the previous 
season, 
Analysis of the total Flyway duck bag by 
species, as derived from data provided by the 
Duck Wing Survey, shows that the bags of 
five species—black ducks (223,100), wood 
ducks (119,500), mallards (119,400), ring- 
necked ducks (48,100), and green-winged teal 
(45,000)— totaled 555,100 ducks or 73 percent 
of the Flyway bag of all species, 
Four species of dabbling ducks registered 
the following bag increases over the previous 
hunting season (table A-14): gadwall (+82%), 
shoveler~=.(+13%), black duck (+11%), and 
mallard (+10%). The bags of mottled and 
Florida ducks (combined) decreased 45 per- 
cent, and blue-winged teal decreased 24 per- 
cent, The following species of diving ducks 
registered bag increases: greater scaup 
(+107%), ruddy duck (+61%), bufflehead (+19%), 
and goldeneye (+8%), The bags of lesser scaup 
declined 47 percent and ring-necked ducks 
declined 7 percent from the previous hunting 
season, 
The total Flyway goose bag of anestimated 
108,700 birds increased 27 percent over the 
previous season. An additional 16,000 geese 
were knocked down but not retrieved, fora 
total kill (bag plus cripples) of approximately 
124,700 geese. Eight States registered 
increases in the goose bag and none of the 
States showed decreases (table A-15), 
An estimated 37,900 coots were bagged in 
the Flyway, an increase of 33 percent over 
the previous season. An additional 11,100 
coots were knocked down but not retrieved, 
yielding a total kill (bag plus cripples) of 
about 49,000 coots, 
At the State level, seven States registered 
decreases in total duck bag, whereas ten 
States registered increases. The kill in 
Connecticut increased 108 percent and New 
Jersey increased 105 percent because of in- 
creases in both the total number of active 
hunters and the kill per hunter. 
A total of approximately 189,940 waterfowl 
hunters were afield during atotal of 1,148,900 
hunter-days (table A-16), registering in- 
creases in these estimates of 2 and 4percent 
from the previous season. 
WING COLLECTION SURVEY 
Flyway-wide age ratios of the more im- 
portant species of ducks in the kill during 
the 1960-61 and 1962 hunting seasons in the 
Atlantic Flyway are listed in table B-2,p. . 
During the 1962 hunting season, 9 of the 13 
species considered here showed a decrease 
from the 1961 ratio of immature to adult birds. 
Mallard age ratios from most of the more 
northern States of the Flyway generally con- 
tained fewer immatures per adult in 1962 than 
in 1961, Age ratios from the southern half 
of the Flyway showed little change from last 
year. The weighted flyway-wide age ratio 
indicated a decline in the number of im- 
matures in the kill during the 1962 season 
(table B-3). 
Black duck age ratios in each State in the 
Flyway for the 1960, 1961, and 1962 seasons 
are presented in B-4, The number ofimma- 
ture to adult black ducks in the 1962 kill 
showed a continued decrease from 1961 in 
nearly all States and in the Flyway-weighted 
ratio (table B-4). 
49 
