the Maryland Game and Inland Fish Com- 
mission collected large numbers of waterfowl 
gullets and gizzards from hunters in the 
important Chester River-Eastern Bay area. 
Tllegally killed waterfowl from the Eastern 
Shore that had been confiscated by U. S. game 
management agents were made available for 
food-habits studies through the courtesy of 
Joseph D, Withers. William R, Nicholson, who 
was with the Maryland Game and Inland Fish 
Commission, furnished valuable aid.in cen- 
susing waterfowl and collecting specimens in 
the marshes of Dorchester County and in the 
Chester River area. Paul F, Springer, of the 
U, S. Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife, 
helped in the survey of habitat.conditions of 
several important waterfowl areas, and Clark 
G. Webster, of the same agency, collected a 
number of waterfowl in the Patuxent River 
bottomlands and also completed the analysis 
of their food contents. 
My gratitude is extended to several biolo- 
gists of the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and 
Wildlife for their assistance in the analysis 
of waterfowl foods. Special thanks are due 
F. M. Uhler, who aided in many of the more 
difficult identifications. Acknowledgements are 
also made to Neil Hotchkiss and A, C. Martin 
for their identification of some of the plant 
foods more difficult to identify, and to Robert 
T. Mitchell, who helped identify fragments of 
insects. Joseph P. E, Morrison of the U. S. 
National Museum identified reference spe- 
cimens of the various species of mollusks 
that had been consumed by waterfowl. 
The principal banders of waterfowl in the 
Upper Chesapeake region since 1950 have been 
Vernon D, Stotts and Richard N, Smith of the 
Maryland ‘Game and Inland Fish Commission; 
Daniel E. Russ, Cornelius W. Wallace, and 
Joseph D, Withers of the U. S. Bureau of 
Sport Fisheries and Wildlife; and John R, 
Longwell of the Maryland Department of Re- 
search and Education. William R,. Nicholson, 
formerly of the Maryland Game and Inland 
Fish Commission, also banded many water- 
fowl during this period. Their efforts made 
possible the band-recovery analysis that 
showed the distribution of the kill of Chesa- 
peake birds. 
I appreciate the help of Paul Springer and 
Brooke Meanley in obtaining pictures that 
illustrate the 13 types of waterfowl habitat 
in the Upper Chesapeake Region, and I am 
indebted to Paul Springer also for seeing this 
paper through its final stages of printing. 
Finally, I should like to thank Lucille F, 
Stickel of the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and 
Wildlife for her skilled and careful editing 
of the manuscript. Thanks are extended also 
to Bess O, MacMaugh for her preparation of 
the finished copies of the maps that are in- 
cluded in this report. 
