Re THE AtU-D USB ON? Boule, 
9,000 pintails, 1,200 scaup, and 500 Canada geese were seen on Crane lak 
above Browning. Smaller flocks of mallards and geese were resting 
the bottomland lakes or feeding in flooded crop fields near Browning ai 
south of Beardstown. Coots, several flocks numbering into the thousanc 
were observed in many lakes along the Illinois river from Hennepin sout 
There were more than six times as many ducks in the Mississip 
River valley from Rock Island downstream to Alton as there were la 
year, according to Bellrose. This year he saw some 506,000 ducks; last ye 
the migrants numbered about 80,000. 
Bellrose counted 6,000 lesser scaup and 2,600 canvasbacks betwe 
Keokuk, Iowa, and Nauvoo. Above Nauvoo were 125,000 scaup, 4,7 
canvasbacks and 1,900 ringneck ducks. He saw close to 5,000 coots in tf 
portion of the river. Between Dallas City and Burlington, Iowa, we 
12,000 mallards and 3,000 scaup. About 16,000 mallards and 15,000 blue ai 
snow geese were seen between Burlington and Oquawka. Approximate 
9,000 mallards were on the Keithsburg National Wildlife Refuge and 6,0 
on the Louisa Refuge in Iowa. 
About 30,000 mallards, 40,000 pintails and 15,000 widgeons were o 
served between Meyer and Keokuk. Other large concentrations of duc 
were censused from the junction of the Illinois and Mississippi rivers ne 
Grafton to Lock and Dam 22. Thousands of widgeon were feeding 
flooded fields in St. Charles County, Mo., across the Mississippi river irc 
Calhoun County, Illinois. 
Tom Evans, supervisor of the game division for the Illinois Depai 
ment of Conservation, said there were two reasons for the big increa 
in duck numbers over last year. 
“The duck hatch last spring on the prairies of Canada was the be 
in the last few years,’ Evans said. “For instance, mallard production w 
up about 20 per cent. 
“A more important factor is all that shallow water in those low lyi 
corn and bean fields,’ Evans continued. “This makes ideal feeding conc 
tions for ducks like mallards, pintails, widgeons and gadwalls. As long 
the fields hold water we will have the ducks. When the fields dry o1 
the ducks will leave because there is little natural feed in the river valle 
this year. Picked corn fields will supply food for mallards until th 
are plowed. | 
“The fact that we have all that water and all those ducks illustral 
an important point,’ Evans said. “The Mississippi flyway is the key o 
in the United States. More ducks migrate down that flyway than down a 
other. Many of the ducks that migrate through the Illinois and Mississit 
River valleys do not stop for any length of time because most of the shall« 
lakes that provided resting areas and food in the past have been drain 
The five to seven inches of rain that fell during the second week of Oc 
ber caused the smaller streams draining into the big valleys to flood t 
bottom, creating conditions that are similar to what the ducks had long agi 
a a f a 
THANKS TO ALL WHO CARED 
Mrs. Alpha Peterson, office secretary for the Society, is now recover- 
ing from major surgery and wishes to express her thanks for the 
many cards and phone calls received. She is now at home resting” 
and hopes to return to the office soon. 
