44— 44‘fi’"

_ 4 _

Charlie explained that ducks will not nest in salt marsh and will only move into such areas after nesting in some locality adjacent to fresh water. The area of marsh above Mount Stewart was ideal for nesting ducks, as the two bridges shut off most of the salt water, letting only enough through to make conditions ideal. He contrasted it with Pisquid River which is salt. He said that only two broods of Teal were raised there that year, and these were the only breeding ducks.

Harvey recalled the male and female European Widgeon at his sanctuary the previous winter. He banded both. The male was very tame and stayed around later in the spring than the female, and it mated with

an American Widgeon. These were the first European Widgeons banded in North America. ”

I inquired if Mallards seen at sanctuaries were strictly wild birds. Harvey told me that he had imported only one pair of tame Mallards

to his sanctuary and a mink killed one before breeding season. The birds at his sanctuary were strictly wild birds and apparently showed

small tendency to cross with the Black Ducks. [He said one male took a Black female that spring.

He recalled seven or eight Wood Ducks that visited his sanctuary each fall in the years before 1953-54. At that time they were scarce.

He said he had seen Redheads on the Island 15 or 16 years previously.

He told me of a pair of Canada Geese which nested about five miles from his home pond that year. The gander was'shot, and when the young

hatched they vanished - victims of predation, when the gander was not there to protect them.

On July 2, 1959 he had told me that a Canvasback was in with the ducks at Black Pond some two years past; also, that two Great Blue Herons and a Kingfisher wintered at his sanctuary on the previous year.

When he was studying the birds at Mount Stewart Marsh, Charlie used to paddle the canoe up river and then use a small motor to propel the canoe on the way back. while going about farming operations, I used to watch his goings and comings. Many times when I heard the motor

coming down river, I hastened to the landing spot to hear what new things had been seen.

On August 7, 1959 Charlie had with him a specimen of young Shoveler. The feathers on the edge of the wing were about l/2 inch long. He had collected it fairly well up—river from a brood of four accompanied by a female. He had banded the other young birds. This was the first breeding record of this species for Prince Edward Island.

While talking with Charlie during the summer of 1962, I was told that

a Lesser Scaup wing was sent in with other wings collected the previous fall. He had talked with the hunter who shot this duck, and he said

he had shot this species of duck previously on several occasions.

On August 16, 1959 I went up-river (Mount Stewart Marsh) in the canoe with Charlie and the dogs. We saw a pair of American Widgeon and banded a brood of three Green-winged Teal. Charlie said he had seen about five different broods of Green-winged Teal on the Island to date

that year. By way of contrast, we saw five broods of Blue—winged Teal that day.

On October 25, 1959 I drove to Moore's Sanctuary. Among the waterfowl seen were Canada Geese, Black Ducks, American Pintail, American Widgeon and one male Wood Duck. Harvey came out and fed the ducks and geese.

He put grain in two buckets for the geese and scattered the balance of

a bag on the ground for the ducks. The waterfowl vacated the pond.

The geese swam to shore and waddled up to the feast. The ducks continually flew in against the wind, and, in no time at all, Harvey was surrounded by a blanket of hungry birds. When he was nearly through scattering the grain, he held some in his hand. A Black Duck flew up, lighted on his shoulder and fed from his hand.