2 by cloacal morphology [5], and whose serum samples had no visible hemolysis. 2.2. Sample Handling and Processing. A portable (6.9 kg, 29.2 cm long, 15.3 cm wide, 24.2 cm high) analytical chem- istry analyzer (VetScan, Sunnyvale, CA) operated oﬀ 110 V service supplied by the boat’s generator was used to obtain serum chemistry values onboard a chartered ﬁshing boat. Prepackaged disposable reagent rotors included tests for potassium, glucose, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), albumin, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), amylase, calcium, cholesterol, creatinine, total bilirubin, total protein, and urea nitrogen. The device also evaluated and reported the amount of hemolysis and lipemia in the sample on a scale of 0 to 3+. Preliminary trials using mallard duck (Anas platyrhynchos) blood suggested the system developed for mammalian blood could be used with avian whole blood, plasma, or serum. Blood samples were drawn from the jugular vein of harlequin ducks immediately after collecting morphometric data including body weight in grams, and limb and bill measurements in millimeters from each newly captured duck. Fresh blood was analyzed when the burden of trans- mitter implantation surgeries allowed. Thirteen samples were suitable for comparison of whole blood with serum, meeting the criteria of no lipemia, icterus, or hemolysis greater than 1+ as determined by the VetScan equipment for the serum samples. All other samples were allowed to clot for 30 minutes prior to centrifugation at approximately 1000 G for 5 minutes for serum separation. Each serum sample was divided into two aliquots. Fresh serum was analyzed within 2 hours of sample collection using the VetScan system. The other aliquot was frozen at –10 C and transported to North Caroline State University. A matching panel of chemistries was performed for comparison on samples with no visible hemolysis using a Monarch 2000 (Instrumentation Laboratories, Lexington, MA). Samples with no visible hemolysis would occasionally result in a VetScan hemolysis rating of one plus. To evaluate the eﬀect of sample hemolysis as rated by the VetScan, data from the 25 samples in the baseline cohort with hemolysis scores of 1+ were compared with data from the 64 samples with zero hemolysis reported by the VetScan and then against the combined cohort of 89 samples. Fifty two samples with hemolysis scores of 2+ and 15 samples with hemolysis scores of 3+ were compared separately with the 64 hemolysis score 0 samples in the baseline cohort. Occasionally, individual chemistry determinations ana- lyzed by one or the other system would fail or would report a concentration below detection limits. When this occurred, the data from each analyzer were excluded from comparisons for that sample parameter, resulting in diﬀerent sample sizes for diﬀerent parameters. The only time birds were detected with serum chem- istry parameters suﬃciently outside of expected ranges to warrant clinical concern was following a three-day storm characterized by high winds, which diminished suﬃciently to permit capturing ducks late on the third day. Ten birds were captured on the day before the storm and 10 birds Veterinary Medicine International three days later as the storm abated. Another nine birds were caught the ﬁrst full day following the end of the storm. Serum chemistry parameters for these 29 birds were extracted from the database and examined for diﬀerences potentially related to the storm. All data were summarized using the nonparametric descriptive statistics of medians and quartiles. The Wilcoxon Signed-Ranks Test and the Kolmogorov-Smirnov Two- Sample Test where used to compare data where appropriate. P-values less than .05 were considered statistically signiﬁ- cant. 3. Results A total of 198 samples including duplicates and whole blood were processed with the VetScan under ﬁeld conditions. Seventeen rotor failures occurred for an overall failure rate of 8.6%. The failure rate for whole blood samples was 14.3% compared to 7.6% for serum samples. Rotors failed twice on two samples but no samples were lost due to rotor failure, as a third analysis was successful in each case. There was no statistical correlation between degree of hemolysis or lipemia in the sample and rotor failure. VetScan hemolysis scores of 2+ or 3+ aﬀected several serum chemistry parameters, as expected, but a reading of 1+ hemolysis had no statistically signiﬁcant (P < .05) eﬀect on the median value or variability of any of the serum chemistry parameters evaluated, including serum potassium. The use of no visible hemolysis as the inclusion criterion for the baseline determination study was appropriate. Hemolysis occurred less frequently in whole blood than in serum samples, and more frequently in the ﬁrst days in the study, suggesting that handling the blood prior to analysis was the major contributor to hemolysis (data not shown). Baseline reference values for female harlequin ducks based on data from the VetScan and Monarch analyzers are presented in Table 1. Median values determined by each analyzer were within the quartile ranges of the respective alternative analyzer for glucose, calcium, and creatinine. Glucose baselines determined for the two analyzers were not diﬀerent. The median values of most other parameters examined were lower when determined on the Monarch analyzer with the exception of calcium and creatinine, which were higher. The extents of the quartile ranges were similar for the two analyzers for most parameters. Serum potassium concentrations determined by the Monarch analyzer were frequently reported as the minimum level of quantitation resulting in a very narrow quartile range. Although relatively few duplicate samples were run, the precision of the VetScan data appeared to be similar to the precision of the data generated by the Monarch reference methods (data not shown). These results are compatible with those of studies comparing the VetScan with larger automated systems for assessment of serum chemistry values of parrots in clinical settings [6]. Thirteen samples with no hemolysis when analyzed as serum were also analyzed as whole blood on the VetScan equipment. Lipemia and icterus readings for all of these