[138] BIRDS OF OREGON 



taking one on Netarts Bay, November 2.2., 192.2.. One bird was reported 

 on several occasions on the little lake in Eastmoreland Golf Course at 

 Portland during the winter, where Gabrielson saw it on December 2.7, 

 1931. It is possible that this species is more common than our records 

 indicate, as it is only the most observant gunners who pick out these 

 strange-looking birds. 



Gunners should be on the watch for this rare bird. It can be distin- 

 guished from the American Widgeon, or Baldpate, as it is more commonly 

 known on the west coast, by the russet-brown sides of the head of the 

 male in contrast to the white crown and green sides of the American bird. 

 Females are more difficult to distinguish but may be told by the fact that 

 in the American bird the background is white, heavily streaked with a 

 gray or grayish-brown color, whereas in the female of the European bird 

 the streaking is on a buff background. 



Baldpate: 



Mareca americana (Gmelin) 



DESCRIPTION. " 'Adult male : Bill blue with black tip; crown white, bordered on sides 

 and back with wide patch of metallic green; rest of head and neck finely specked 

 with dusky over buffy; chest and sides grayish lavender or vinaceous, often barred 

 and specked with dusky, belly white; back dark gray crossed with wavy lines of 

 black, white, and lavender; speculum green, framed in velvety black; bordered above 

 by large white patch; lower, and sides of upper, tail coverts, black. Adult female: 

 head and neck finely specked with dusky on whitish ground, the dusky predom- 

 inating on top of head; chest, sides, and back dull brown, mottled with blackish; 

 belly white; wing with dull-black speculum bordered above and below by white." 

 (Bailey) Downy young: "Above dark olive-brown, relieved by a spot of greenish 

 buff on posterior border of each wing, one on each side of back, and one on each side 

 of rump; top of head and hind-neck, dark olive, like back; rest of head and neck, 

 with lower parts, pale olive-buff or fulvous, the side of the head with a dusky 

 streak, extending from bill, through eye, to occiput." (Ridgway 1887) Si%s: 

 "Length i8-xx, wing 10.15-11.00, bill 1.30-1.50." (Bailey) Nest: Much like that 

 of Gadwall, a slight depression in the ground, thickly lined with down. Eggs: 6 to 

 12., usually 9 to n, pure creamy white. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds in northwestern America from Alaska to Hudson 

 Bay, south to northern California, Nevada, and Utah. Winters from northern States 

 southward to Central America. In Oregon: Rather uncommon breeding species in 

 eastern Oregon, being most abundant at Malheur. Common fall and spring migrant 

 in eastern Oregon, with some scattered winter records in Klamath, Malheur, and 

 Lake Counties. Abundant migrant and winter resident on coast and in Willamette 

 Valley. 



ALTHOUGH IT is a breeding bird in eastern Oregon, the Baldpate, or 

 American Widgeon (Plate 2.2., B), is best known to Oregonians as a 

 spring and fall migrant throughout the State and as an abundant winter- 

 ing species on the coast and in the valleys of coastal streams, where it 

 congregates in huge flocks, occasionally doing some damage in grain- 



