60 HIS TOBY OF THE 



excellent. In the sn turner of 1885, I found young birds in a 

 pond, in Meade county, Kansas. 



Their nesting habits are the same as those of the Mallard; 

 their eggs a little smaller and paler, usually eight to twelve. 

 A set of four, taken May 27th, 1868, at Horicon Lake, Wiscon- 

 sin, are, in dimensions, 2.20x1.50, 2.19x1.49, 2.21x1.50, 2.19x 

 1.52; pale buff white; in form, oval to ovate. 



Subgenus MARECA Stephens. 

 "Bill small, shorter than the head, rather uarrow, the edges parallel to near 

 the end, where they gradually converge to a rounded tip; culmen gently con- 

 cave; laniellse of the niaxillte almost concealed; feet small, the tarsus about as 

 long as the bill; sexes very different in winter, much like in summer. Adult 

 male, in wiuter, with the scapulars and tertials (in the North American species 

 the tail coverts and rectrices also) lanceolate." 



Anas americana Gmel. 



BALDPATB. 

 PLATE V. 



Summer resident; very rare; in migration, common. Arrive 

 the middle of March to first of April; return in October. 



B. 585. E. 607. C. 713. G. 286, 27. U. 137. 



Habitat. North America in general; breeding chiefly north 



of the United States; south in winter to Guatemala and Cuba. 



Sp. Char. '■' Adidt male, in winter: Forehead and middle of crown (longi- 

 tudinally) white, generally immaculate; ground color of head and neck white, 

 sometimes more or less soiled with grayish or brown, and thickly speckled with 

 black; a broad space of metallic blackish green on the side of the occiput, run- 

 ning forward to the eye, and sometimes down the nape, where the two spaces 

 are confluent; jugulum plain pinkish viuaceous; sides aud flanks the same, 

 delicately undulated with black; lower tail coverts velvety black; rest of lower 

 parts pure white; back and scapulars grayish white, more or less tinged with 

 the color of the sides, and similarly undulated with black; wing coverts immacu- 

 late pure white, the anterior portion of the lesser covert region cinereous, aud 

 the last row tipped with velvety black; speculum soft metallic green anteriorly, 

 velvety black posteriorly; tertials velvety black, sharply edged with white, the 

 lower one with its lower edge entirely pure white; primaries plain dark cinereous; 

 rump cinereous, minutely undulated on the edges of the feathers; upper tail 

 coverts velvety black, the iuuer webs mostly grayish; tail hoary cinereous; bill 

 light grayish blue, the end black; iris brown; legs and feet light bluish. Adult 

 female: Above, dusky grayish brown, with transverse, rather distinct, bars of 

 dull white or light ochraceous; wing coverts dark dull cinereous, broadly tipped 

 aud bordered with white; speculum dull black; head aud neck streaked with 



