Duck Decoys Research Articles

A List of Examples of the Wild-taken or Sight Records of Ducks in Different Coloured Mutation

Anas p. platyrhynchos.-Female, buff. Coll. in Saitama Pref., 1940. Female, assuming the male plumage. Coll. at Shinhama Duck Decoy, Chiba Pref., December 1962. (Fig. 1)Anas poecilorhyncha zonorhyncha.-Adult, greyish buff. Coll. at Isawa-gun, Iwate Pref., 1960. (Fig. 2) A photograph of the Spot-billed Duck in nearly albino. Kawasaki, Ryôtsu City, Niigata Pref. (Island of Sado), April 1963. (Fig. 3)Anas c. crecca.-Female, buff. Coll. at Shinhama Duck Decoy, Chiba Pref., March 1958.

MORTALITY AND KILL AMONGST BRITISH‐RINGED TEAL ANAS CRECCA.

Summary. 11,500 Teal were ringed in England and Wales between 1945 and June 1955. Most were caught in traps at Abberton Reservoir, Essex, or in duck decoys in Pembrokeshire and Northamptonshire. Cage traps seem to select older birds, rather than those in their first year of life, and males rather than females. Duck decoys show no sex bias, and no clear selectivity by age in late autumn and winter, when most British ringing has been done The mean annual survival rate of male Teal ringed in Britain 1949–1955 is 0±507±0·019 and that of females 0·430±0·021. Survival in the year following the first September of life may be rather less Teal of both sexes ringed in Pembrokeshire in 1934–1938 had an annual survival‐rate of 0·357±0·020, compared with 0·511±0·040 for birds ringed there in 1945–1948 and 0·350±0·029 for those ringed there in 1949–1953. In the later years of the 1939–1945 War, from 1941 onwards, the survival rate rose to 0·606±0·043 Reported causes of death of ringed Teal suggest that nearly all deaths are due to man, particularly in the months September to March. These reports exaggerate the proportion due to man, and the magnitude of winter losses, because losses due to man are nearly ten times as likely to be reported as those from other causes. The true proportion of losses attributable to man is probably about three‐fifths for males and one‐half for females. Losses from September to March account for about two‐thirds of the annual total for males and rather more than a half of the female casualties Losses in the summer are inversely proportional to those in the preceding winter: an unusually heavy winter kill is offset by a reduction in summer casualties, which include many “natural deaths”.

International Committee for Bird Preservation

THE report of the British Section of the International Committee for Bird Preservation (The Secretary, c/o British Museum (Natural History), Cromwell Road, London, S.W.7) is a record of much good Work. For some years past naturalists and others have been perturbed by the decline in the wildfowl population of the world, and, among other things, the report contains an account of the Committee‘s work in investigating the situation as it affects the wildfowl of Europe. Among the activities are the ringing of duck to trace their migration routes. A duck decoy at Orielton is being used for this purpose, and ringing on a lesser scale is being carried out at other decoys in Great Britain. In 1947, the headquarters of the Committee, previously in Brussels, were transferred to London, and the British Museum (Natural History) is now the centre of the organisation, which has thirty-four national sections from all five continents.

The Book of Duck Decoys

The Book of Duck Decoys