92 The IVater-fowl Family 



Measurements — Length, i8 inches ; wing, 10.20 inches ; culmen, 1.40 

 inches ; tarsus, i .40 inches. 



Vouitg male — Resembles the female closely. Its general coloring, 

 however, is deeper. The breast and flanks are more vinaceous, 

 and the wing markings more clearly defined. 



Downy young — Upper parts, dark olive; lower part of head and 

 neck and under parts, lighter; spots of buff on each side of 

 back and rump. 



Eggs — Eight to twelve in number ; ivory-white in color ; measure 

 2.20 by 1.45 inches. 



Habitat — Recorded as breeding from Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, 

 Kansas, Colorado, Texas, Arizona, Utah, and British Columbia, 

 north to Hudson Bay, Fort Anderson, Kotzebue Sound, the 

 Yukon Delta, and probably the Aleutian Islands : breeds chiefly 

 north of the United States. Winters from Maryland, irregularly 

 north to Maine, Indiana, the lower Mississippi Valley, Texas, 

 Idaho, Nevada, and British Columbia, south to the West Indies, 

 Central America, and Lower California. Recorded as a migrant 

 in Newfoundland and Labrador, and as a straggler in Europe, 

 Bering Islands, Kamchatka, Hawaii, and Bermuda. 



This bird bears the unenviable reputation of 

 a telltale; quick to notice danger and always 

 ready to sound an alarm, many a flock of unsus- 

 pecting ducks has turned out of harm's way 

 under the leadership of a wary widgeon. 



The favorite haunts in the United States are 

 the lakes and rivers of the middle and western 

 United States and, in localities, the coasts. They 

 are common along the southern and Lower Cali- 

 fornia shores and on the Atlantic south of 

 Maryland. 



The breeding-grounds are well to the north, on 

 the Yukon and Mackenzie rivers, even to the 



