5 2 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB 



48 [133a] Anas rubripes tristis Brewst. 



Black Duck; Dusky Duck; "Summer Black Duck"; 

 "Spring Black Duck." 



Resident, common in summer ; abundant transient visitor ; common in winter. 

 Eggs: April and May. 



In Chapter II, I have already referred to the brood of ten downy young with 

 their mother in the artificial Sagamore Pond at Ipswich, found on May 30, 1913. 

 Here the mother endeavored to decoy me away from her brood hidden in the cat- 

 tails, by acting like a wounded bird and beating the water with her wings as she 

 laboriously struggled along the shore of the pond and later out into deeper water. 

 In Labrador, where the birds were nesting in small pools, the wounded-bird act 

 was performed not only on the water but on the land. On the land the ducks 

 ran with trailing wings, fell down, and fluttered about in exact imitation of birds 

 sore wounded. 



Dr. Phillips has published an interesting resume of his observations on this 

 bird in Essex County.' I have described the courtship elsewhere.^ 



49 [135] Chaulelasmus streperus (Linn.). 



Gadwall; Gray Duck. 



Rare transient visitor. October 2 to November i. 



I have no records of this bird since the publication of the original Memoir. 



50 [136] Mareca penelope (Linn.). 

 European Widgeon. 



Uncommon transient visitor. October 17 to December 29. 



The change of the characterization above from " accidental " on a single 

 record to "uncommon" is due, I believe, not to any increase of this bird but to 

 the fact of its more easy identification of late years. The adult drakes are 



1 Phillips, J. C. Auk, vol. 28, p. 191, 191 1. 



2 Townsend, C. W. Auk, vol. 33, p. 13-15, 1916. 



