90 BULLETIN 12G, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



mud in search for their iood. They plunge their heads at times completely under 

 the soft soil to obtain a tender root or slug. 



Mr. Aretas A. Saunders writes me, of its arrival in Montana, that 

 it " arrives on its breeding grounds in the latter part of May. It is 

 not mated before arrival, like the mallard and gadwall, but is seen 

 more frequently in flocks of 5 to 15, during the first part of the spring 

 migration." 



CourtsJiip. — ^Evidently the mating occurs after its arrival on its 

 breeding grounds. I have never seen the courtsliip of this species, 

 but it probably does not differ materially from that of the European 

 widgeon, which is described under that species. 



Dr. Alexander Wetmore (1920) describes the courtship flight of 

 the baldpate, as follows: 



The mating flight of this duck resembles that of the preceding species (gadwall), 

 but is performed with more dash and speed. The birds fly swiftly and erratically. 

 The males dart ahead of the female setting and decurving their wings and throwing 

 their heads up, exhibiting their striking markings to the best advantage. The female 

 calls qua-awk, qua-awh and the males whistle whew whew constantly during this per- 

 formance. Occasionally as a pair swung in low over the water the male darted 

 ahead and, with decurved wings and head thrown up, scaled down to the surface. 

 Two males and a single female invariably took part in the display flight which 

 began, as in the gadwall, by the males approaching the female, bowing and whis- 

 tling and then following her as Bhe rose in the air. 



Nesting. — In North Dakota in 1901 we found the baldpate breed- 

 ing abundantly, principally on the islands in the larger lakes. The 

 baldpate is a late breeder, very few of the eggs being laid before June 

 1, and the majority of the sets are not completed until the second week 

 in June or later. The greatest breeding grounds of this species were on 

 the four small islands in the western end of Stump Lake, so graphi- 

 cally described by my companion Mr. Herbert K. Job (1898) under 

 the appropriate title "The Enchanted Isles." These islands arc now 

 included in the Stump Lake Reservation. The islands were devoid of 

 trees but supported a rank growth of grasses, tall coarse weeds, and 

 various herbaceous plants, as well as several tall thick clumps of 

 Phrag mites communis, and patches of wild roses ; they were high in 

 the centers, sloping gradually down to gravelly beaches, with numer- 

 ous loose rocks and bowlders scattered over them. Here, on June 

 15, 1901, we found no less than 15 nests of baldpates; probably there 

 were more nests, which we did not find, as it was raining very hard 

 when we explored the island where they were breeding most abun- 

 dantly, so we made only a hurried search of about half an hour, find- 

 ing 12 nests in this short time. We also found here numerous nests 

 of other ducks, mallards, gadwalls, pintails, lesser scaup ducks, and 

 white-winged scoters, besides a breeding colony of double-crested 

 cormorants and large numbers of nesting ring-billed gulls and com- 

 mon terns. Though we were tramping around in a drenching down- 



