IRA N. GABRIELSON                                           C. STEWART COMEAUX
President                                                    Treasurer
C. R. GUTERMUTH   WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE              ETHEL M. QUEE
Vice-President                                                Secretary
Dedicated to Wildlife Restoration
INVESTMENT BUILDING, WASHINGTON 5, D. C.
Universityr of
2redeicton,
:ovember 2?7t, -
Prof'essor Aldo LeopolM,
Deartment of  .idife Y&nacem,
4'4 TTiverjrsity Tarm Llcoo,
Univer ity of   C ico
Dear ProesSor,
In 7e-readin  an ampen IlTier's I "X
Book; on Duck ShootingI" (7enn Tubli   ng Comany- P_1 -i  li, 1959),
I came across two veir i:tresting o     which are of special intero!st
to ry Block  (c,1-
h1e first is on p 470, the last iera-rarh
o2TalpF h I. )     '        on Sunsots n C--les of Abundnnce in
ater'owl , He ss "The -)resent years"(1957-1939)"with t  cloudy and
ainy conditions obtaining are favorable years for waterfowl in coastal
and lake regions; while in the plains, -.1i97 should show z relative
increases in  ucks and. eese." is is a -rediction written in 1959.
it fairly well for the coastal re gions as we had an increase from
1-19Z44 and a decrease from 194 on,  vlly s          However e s
,  -  -   s-  ITo      -l  no  i
cway off in his prediction for the plains. 145-1947 ware certainly not
hri years on the prairies, according to avorybody bit Carturht. It ,Ill
be intorestinge- to see how he ;akes out in Ih Is prediction for a high in
1   -T-1950 for the coastal rerions. You -All emenber that we found that
the broods averpaed larger In 19A7 than  heid in the two preceeding
year.s, which suf-ests a biloical chan-e in the reproductive capacity
over and above any environ1ental factors.
The second interesting point is on p 4-94.
In the Blacl: Duck column of ths table on line 4 are shown 341 Black
Ducks as havin- been shot in California in 1934-55 on premises where
shooting ove2r bait was ermi~tted. This  ble is cormiled b1 the Genle
manarement Division of   e then Biological Survey foeCm questionadires
sent out to duck clubs. I am wonderingj if we may accept this as a valid
record or if they are confusing the species with some other duck. If
it is correct it certainly will chanCe our ideas of the distribution of
the Black Duck.
Our nast season has been so altered and
clhan'ged about with zoning, later opening, closing for rire danger, and
an a11 time record low water, that I an at a loss to find a constant
factor to compare ith other years. One thing is sure and that is that
the kill has been very much lighter than in the two previous years
i this district,
j- 3