ANNOTATED LIST OF THE BIRDS 97 



BALDPATE (Mareca americana) 



The ponds of Gardiner's Island are indelibly associated in 

 my mind with this trim and graceful duck. Here it is posi- 

 tively abundant, and I have seen it in numbers rivaling the 

 winter flocks of Currituck Sound. Elsewhere on Long Island 

 it is local, rare in most places, fairly common in others. 

 Twenty-five years ago near New York City it was a very rare 

 bird, but now can be seen annually in the spring in a few 

 favored spots, such as Overpeck Creek. The Baldpate is 

 graceful and slender in shape, and is smaller than the Mallard. 

 The drake has a large amount of snowy white on the wing 

 coverts, which will identify it at great distances in connection 

 with its shape. The female resembles a Mallard, but has a 

 distinct white patch in the wing rather than a stripe, and is 

 lighter on the belly. Both sexes are loquacious, and the drake 

 has a mellow whistling whew, whew, whew, which carries a 

 considerable distance. 



Long Island. Fairly common transient, occasional in winter; 

 March 3 to April 16; August 9 to December 21, 1920 (Gardiner's 

 Island, Griscom). 



ORIENT. A winter visitant, common on Gardiner's Island, 

 rare elsewhere. October 30, 1910 to April 14, 1916. Once 

 August 9, 1898 (Plum Island, A. H. Helme). 

 MASTIC. Common fall transient. 



LONG BEACH. Very rare, perhaps only a casual visitant 

 during migrations. March 3, 1921 (Bicknell) to April 15, 

 1917 (Janvrin); October 12, 1921 (Griscom, Johnson, and 

 Johnston). 



New York State. Formerly a common transient on the 

 Hudson (Mearns and Fisher); now rare, and very few recent 

 records, spring only. 



BRONX REGION. Wild birds reported to have flown into 

 the Duck Pond at the Zoological Garden on a few occasions, 

 but no record preserved (Crandall). 



New Jersey. Formerly rare at Morristown (Thurber); no 

 recent observations. Fairly common in spring on the reservoir 

 at Boonton (Carter). Now regular but uncommon in spring in 

 the Newark Marshes (Urner), where it has lingered as late as 



