igo NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Mareca americana (Gmclin) 

 Bald pate or American Widgeon 



Plate 13 



Anas americana Gmelin. Syst. Nat. 1788. 1:526 



DeKav. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 345, fig. 248 

 A. O. U. Check List. Ed, 2. 1895. ^°- ^37 



americCi'na, American 



Description. 'Male: Head and neck grayish white, often tinged with 

 bufEy, thickly speckled with black ; the top of the head white ; broad patch 

 on sides of head behind the eyes nearly solid shiny green; forebreast and 

 sides vinaceous; lower hind neck, back and scapulars finely waved with 

 vinaceous or grayish white and dusky; vinaceous of sides also waved some- 

 what with dusky; lower breast and belly pure white; middle upper tail 

 coverts gray and white ; outer upper tail coverts, under coverts and sides of 

 rump black; middle pair of tail feathers elongated three fourths of an inch, 

 pointed and black; lesser wing coverts gray, middle longer coverts white — 

 pure white in high plumage and grayish in young birds; mirror rich green 

 turning to velvety black behind and margined with black in front ; a broad 

 pearl-gray secondary on the innner margin of the mirror, followed on the 

 inside by four elongated secondaries which are velvety black on the outer 

 web narrowly margined with white and penciled with white along the shafts ; 

 bill grayish blue with black tip and narrow base; feet dull bluish. Foiiale 

 and young: Head and neck dingy white speckled with dusky but without 

 the white crown and green patch; lower breast and belly white; upper 

 breast and sides reddish brown obscurely barred with dusky brown and the 

 feathers tipped with grayish white ; upper parts dusky brown with broken 

 bars of rtifous or buffy brown and the feathers tipped with paler; bill and 

 feet similar to male's but duller. 



Length 18-21 inches; extent 30-35; wing 9.5-10.5; tail 3.5-4-5; tarsus 

 1.5; middle toe and claw 2.2; bill 1.35-1 .53. 



Distribution and migration. The Baldpate, or American widgeon, is a 

 fairly common migrant on the shores of Long Island and the marshes and 

 lakes of western New York. On the Montezuma marshes, Canandaigua 

 lake, and the bays of Lake Ontario it seems to be more common in the 

 spring than in the fall, occurring in considerable numbers from the time 

 when the ice goes out in March till the middle of April, a few sometimes 

 remaining till the third week in May. It arrives at the same time as, or a few 



