70 BIRDS OF ONTARIO. 



Subgenus CHAULELASMUS Bonaparte. 

 ANAS STREPERA Linn. 



39. Gadwall. (13.5) 



Male: — With most of the plumage bailed or half -ringed with black and 

 white or whitish ; middle coverts, chestnuf; greater coverts, Uack ; speculum, 

 white. Female: — Known by these wing marks. Length, 19-22; wing, 10-11. 



Hab. — Nearly cosmopolitan. In North America breeds chiefly within the 

 United States. 



Nest, usually on tlie ground, sometimes in trees. 



Eggs, buff or dull cream color. 



The Gadwall is rare throughout Ontario. When a large mixed 

 lot of ducks is sent down in the fall from any of the shooting stations 

 in the west, a pair or two of this species may sometimes be picked 

 out, but that is all. 



The pair in my collection were shot in Hamilton Bay many years 

 ago, but since that time I have not heard of aiay having been 

 obtained there. It is common to both continents, but it is nowhere 

 abundant. 



The only place I have seen that adjective applied to it is in Macoun's 

 Annual Report of the Department of the Interior for the year ending 

 December, 1880, page 28, where he says : " Chaulelasmus streperus, 

 gray, (xadwall, gray duck, abundant throughout the interior." In the 

 " Birds of Manitoba," the same writer says regarding it : " Only one 

 specimen shot on the Assiniboine, September, 1881." 



It is mentioned V)y Dr. Bell as occurring at Hudson's Bay; in what 

 number is not stated. 



The male Gadwall is a very handsome bird, much sought after by 

 collectors, the price charged in their lists showing its comparative 

 scarcity. 



Subgenus MARECA Stephens. 

 ANAS AMERICANA Gmel. 



40. Baldpate. (137) 



Bill and feet, grayish-bine ; top of head, white, or nearly so, plain or 

 speckled ; its sides and the neck, more or less speckled ; a broad green patch on ' 

 sides of head ; fore breast, light-brownish ; belly, puie white ; crissum, abruptly 

 black ; middle and greater coverts, white, the latter black-tipped ; speculum. 



