96 BULLETIN 126, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



for they would begin to swim toward the spot just before the coot emerged. The 

 coots appeared to take the pilferintr as a matter of course; in fact they pilfered from 

 each other, and continued to work for themselves and the poachers. 



Such behavior has earned for tlie bald pate the local name of 

 " poacher." 



Fall. — On the fall migration the baldpate starts rather early in 

 September, well in advance of the heavy frosts. 



On its migration in Montana, according to Mr. Aretas A. Saunders, 

 it- 

 associates with many other species of ducks, most frequently with the shoveller. 

 Flocks of these two species, mixed, are quite common in the spring migration. I 

 have observed, with this species, on a small pond in the spring migration, the 

 following other species: Gadwall, shoveller, blue-winged teal, pintail, lesser scaup, 

 goldeneye, and buffle-head. In the large flocks of ducks that gather on the larger 

 alkali ponds in the fall migration, this is one of the commonest species, and ia 

 associated commonly with th(! shoveller and lesser scaup. 



Game. — As a game bird it will not rank in importance with several 

 others, though its vegetable diet, especially when it has been feeding 

 on the Chesapeake with the canvasbacks, makes its flesh very 

 palatable and desirable. It is a favorite too with many sportsmen 

 on account of its swiftness, its boldness, and its readiness to come to 

 decoys. Blanchan (1898) says: 



The gentlemen hidden behind " blinds " on the " duck shores " of Maryland and 

 the sloughs of the interior and with a flock of wooden decoys floating near by, or 

 uhe nefarious market gunner in his "sink boat" and with a dazzling reflector be- 

 hind the naptha lamp on the front of liis scow, bag by fair means and foul immense 

 numbers of baldpates every season, yet so prolific is the bird, and so widely 

 distributed over this continent, that there still remain widgeons to shoot. That is 

 the fact one must marvel at whea one gazes on the results of a single night's 

 slaughtering in the Chesapeake country. The pothunter who uses a reflector to 

 fascinate the flocks of ducks that, bedded for the night, swim blindly up to the 

 sides of the boat, moving silently among them, often kills from 20 to 30 at a shot. 



Winter. — After loitering along its way for several weeks in a most 

 leisurely manner, as if waiting for the young birds to fatten and 

 grow strong the baldpate finally reaches its winter home before cold 

 weather sets in, spreading out from its inland breeding range to 

 winter largely on the coasts, as well as in the lower Mississippi 

 Valley. Its winter habits in the Chesapeake Bay, wliich marks 

 the northern limit of its winter abundance on the Atlantic coast, 

 have been referred to above and have been well described by others. 

 It is common on the coast of Louisiana associating with mallards, 

 gadwalls, pintails, and lesser scaup ducks. On the Pacific coast it 

 winters abundantly as far north as Puget Sound, though according 

 to Bowles (1909) it is not so common there as formerly; he says: 



During fall, winter, and spring it is most numerous of all ducks in Washington, 

 save possibly the bluebills and scoters. Large numbers of them congregate upon 

 the tide flats of Puget Sound, and the bird is abundant also on the interior watere. 



