DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS: Family Anatidae [ 139 ] 



fields or to newly seeded crops and to pastures, both by puddling the wet 

 soil and by destroying the young vegetation. This has been particularly 

 noticeable around Tillamook Bay, where the species at times becomes 

 exceedingly abundant. 



In eastern Oregon, it nests on Malheur Lake and possibly in other 

 areas. Bendire (1877) first listed it as a breeding bird in Oregon when he 

 was stationed in the Malheur Lake country in the seventies, and nests 

 have occasionally been reported there since, notably by Cantwell when 

 he was reservation warden at Malheur. He also reported it as nesting in 

 Cold Springs Reservoir. It is most common in the great fall flights that 

 appear on the coast from early October on, depending somewhat on the 

 season. Our earliest date of arrival in the coast country is August 18, 

 but as a usual thing it is well into October before numbers are present. 

 It remains until mid-March, our latest date being April 2.4. 



The Baldpate is a handsome bird with ruddy plumage checked with 

 black lines, conspicuous white and green wings, and a head bordered with 

 shiny green on the sides. Its call is a softly whistled whetnv repeated three 

 times, somewhat similar to that of the Green-winged Teal. It is very 

 swift of wing and behaves much like the teal. The wings, in flight, make 

 a characteristic whistling sound that gunners soon learn to recognize. As 

 a usual thing Baldpates are good table birds, but occasionally on the 

 coastal lakes and bays the flesh becomes tainted or strong from some food 

 that they get in abundance there. 



Food of the Baldpate in Oregon is somewhat like that of other shallow- 

 water ducks. The greater proportion of it is vegetable matter, composed 

 largely of the seeds of water plants. Among the favorites found in 

 stomachs taken at Klamath Falls are seeds of parrotfeather (M.yriopkyllum), 

 pond weeds {Po tamo get on), smart weed (Polygonum amphibium), and sedges 

 {Zannichellia palustris and Scirpus americanus). A few water insects and 

 remains of various kinds of snails and other small mollusks constitute most 

 of the animal matter. The stomach of a bird taken on the Columbia 

 River contained z,8oo seeds of a grass (Eragrostis hypnoides), 1,2.00 seeds 

 of another grass (Panicum), and 750 seeds of a sedge (Eleockaris*), which 

 constituted 93 per cent of the stomach contents. The balance consisted 

 of seeds of the buttercup (Ranunculus), and 80 seeds of the smartweed 

 (Polygonum lapatbifolium). 



American Pintail: 



Dafila acuta t%it%ihoa (Linnaeus) 



DESCRIPTION.- "A large duck, with long neck and long, sharp tail of 16 feathers; 

 head not crested. Adult male: sides of head snuff brown, with a purple gloss; crown 

 darker, back of neck blackish, a white stripe down side of neck; throat and under 

 parts white; sides and upper parts gray crossed by wavy lines; wing slaty, with 



