192 Phillips, Migration of Anaiidai in Massachusetts. [April 



rare in eastern Massachusetts, has occurred only once, October 2(1, 

 1904, when a single female was secured. Dr. Townsend, in 'The 

 Birds of Essex County,' mentions several more taken during the 

 same season. 



Baldpate {Mareca americana). The Widgeon is not at all an 

 uncommon bird. There are numerous dates for September in the 

 Wenham Lake records. They are often seen as single birds or in 

 pairs, and once or twice in little flocks. Nineteen is the largest 

 number in one year for the stand, and they have occurred every 

 season except one. Fifty-six individuals have been taken. These 

 Widgeon have usually decoyed readily, and seem to delight in 

 climbing up on the beach, where they run about on good terms with 

 the live decoys. They are, of course, all in immature plumage. 



Widgeon {Mareca penelope). While looking at the axillary 

 feathers of various birds in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 

 Mr. Outram Bangs recently pointed out. to me a new way of 

 distinguishing at a glance, regardless of sex or plumage, between 

 M. americana and .V. pcnclopc. This has enabled me to identity 

 four Widgeon skins as belonging to .1/. penelope out of six skins 

 from Wenham Lake, as follows: An immature male and a female 

 taken Nov. 15, 1004, and two females (from the collection of Dr. 

 C. W. Townsend) dated Oct. 17, 1003. All four of these skins 

 have reddish heads. The 1903 birds are remembered to have been 

 saved on account of their appearance, but the other two were 

 probably set aside at random. 



The characters referred to above are as follows: M. americana, 

 axillaries practically pure white, except for a very fine dusky 

 pattern at extreme tips or a slight dusky line along the main shaft 

 in some cases. .V. pcnclopc, axillaries markedly dusky and finely 

 patterned, especially on the inner webs. The outer webs may be 

 almost entirely white, giving an appearance of white axillaries, 

 until the feathers are spread apart. 



This distinction has thus far been found to hold good through 

 the entire series of Widgeon skins in the collection of Mr. William 

 Brewster and the Museum of Comparative Zoology, comprising 

 about fifty specimens of M. americana and about twenty-five of 

 }[. pcnclopc. 



The findings suggest the fact that M. pcnclopc is far from an 



