768 THE GADWALL. 



"Similar ti> winter male, l)nt colors duller, creiwii dusky, ruuip aud breast tinged 

 with rusty, and iniderparts more spotted with dusky" ( Ridgway ). .Idult female: 

 "Head and thrtjal as in the male; back fuscous margined with buffy; breast and 

 sides ochraceous buffy, thickly spotted with blackish; belly and under tail-coverts 

 white, more or less thickly spotted witli blackish: little or no chestnut on wing- 

 coverts : sjjeculum ashy gray and white : a.xillars and under wing-coverts fiitre 

 zcliite" (Chapman). Length 19.00-22.00 (482.6-558.8); wing 10.60 i2(y).2); tail 

 4.50 ( 1 14.3) ; bill \.('~ (42.4) ; tarsus 1.60 (40.6). Female smaller. 



Recognition Marks. — Something under ^lallard size; 7\.'liitc speciiliiiii dis- 

 titictive ; crissum (of male) abruptly black. 



Nesting. — Xest: on the ground near water, of grasses, lined with feathers. 

 ligys: 8-12, pale buft'y or clay-colored. .\v. size. 2.09x1.57 ( 53.1 .\ 39.9). 

 Season: c. June 10; one brood. 



General Range. — Nearly cosmopolitan. In North America breeds chiefly 

 within the United v^tates. 



Range in Washington. — Little kn(iwn on Puget Sound; common and well 

 distributed in the interior, where breeding. 



Authorities.— Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. IX. 1858, p. 783. C&S. 

 L'. Rh. P.. E. 



Specimens. — Prov. 



THERE is a traditiuti, nearly utiiversal, that the Gadwall is not a conmion 

 bird. There is ground for this judgment, but the impression of scarcity is 

 strengthened Ijv the fact that the lairds are of rather sober appearance at best, 

 that they do nothing wdiatever out of the ordinary, and that tliey do not 

 largely participate in the northern migrations. In our own State, the breeding 

 population i)rol)abl}' exceeds the numlier of the migrants crossing our northern 

 borders; and at that, is chiefh- confined to a few lakes in the northern portion 

 of the East-side. 



In habits the Gadwall most nearly resemi)les the Mallard. Like that bird 

 it frequents the borders of marshes and weed-grown streams wdiere it feeds 

 upon the leaves and roots of aquatic ])lants, which it obtains ]>oth by diving 

 and dabbling. It is not averse to var\itig its diet by occasional insects and 

 small fish, or it ma\' resort to stubble-fields, bv night, to obtain its share of the 

 fallen grain. The Gadwall is at all times a clean feeder, and its flesh is highly 

 prized for the table. 



The nestitig of the Gadwall is later than that of the Mallard, taking place 

 with us not earlier than June. An\- weed-grown field or grassy stretch within 

 a luuidred vards of water is suitable, and the fetnale displays great strategy in 

 stealing to her eggs. A mere depression in the ground, well sheltered by over- 

 arching vegetation, is all the bird asks at the outset, but as the deposition of 

 eggs progresses, the duck adds grasses and soft \egetable materials of various 

 sorts, until quite a respectable accumulati<in results. When the set is nearly 

 complete, an abundance of dark gray down is plucked finm the bird's breast 

 and distributed not i>nh- under the eggs but along the sides of the nest, so that 



