BALDPATE. AMERICAN WIDGEON 



wings mainly brownish gray ; wing patch greenish 

 purple bordered with black and conspicuously 

 with white; breast and abdomen grayish white 

 with fine wavy black lines ; the four small, upper 

 tail feathers are curled upwards. Bill greenish 

 yellow; feet orange red. 



Female. Dark brownish above, the feathers 

 edged with buff; head and neck lighter than 

 body and finely streaked with dusky, an indis- 

 tinct darker streak through eye; wing patch 

 duller than in male; under parts buff, the 

 feathers with blackish spots and edgings. Bill 

 varying from dull orange to greenish olive. 



Young. Similar to female. 



A migrant. The variously colored domestic 

 ducks are derived from this species, which is 

 found throughout most of the Northern Hemi- 

 sphere. The wild birds are of slenderer build 

 than the domesticated races. 



5. Mareca americana (Gmelin) 

 Baldpate. American Widgeon 



Adult male. Length 487 mm. (19.00 in.); 

 tail 102 mm. (4.00 in.). Forehead and crown 

 white; sides of head whitish tinged with buff and 

 speckled with green, with a large glossy green 

 patch from the eye to the nape; hindneck and 

 back pale purplish brown with many blackish 

 cross lines, rump darker, wings and tail mostly 

 gray, the wings with a metallic green patch in 

 front of which (and separated by a black bar) 

 is a large white area; chin and throat black, fore- 

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