139 



the middle of April. Autumnal, from the last of September until the 

 last of November. The full complement of eggs is deposited before the 

 middle of May, in some tussock of grass near the edge of the marsh. 



261. A. obsoura Gmel. DUSKY DUCK. An uncommon migrant 

 with the preceding, and a very rare summer resident. Among the 

 countless number of mallards killed yearly in this state are scarcely 

 found more than one in two hundred of this species. One or two 

 pairs nest each year on the Calumet Marshes. 



I 

 Genus Dafila Leach. 



262. D. acuta (Linn.). PINTAIL DUCK. Very abundant migrant, 

 and rare summer resident. Arrives early in October and remains 

 until the last of November; in spring passes north by the first of 

 April. Each year a few pairs breed upon the marshes in this vicinity, 

 but whether they breed in the State away from the Lake region I have 

 no means of knowing. In the spring of 1875 several pairs of these 

 birds nested in the prairie sloughs near the Calumet Kiver, and on' the 

 29th of May I found a nest containing three freshly laid eggs. The 

 female was flushed from the nest when scarcely more than a rod away, 

 and was at once joined by the male from a small slough a few rods 

 distant. The nest was in the centre of a tall, thick bunch of grass 

 on a small ridge between two sloughs, and was a slight hollow thickly 

 lined with grass stems ; no down had been added. The parent birds 

 circled about overhead, often coming within gunfhot, during the 

 whole time I was in the vicinity. The eggs average 2-25 by 1-50, and 

 are a grayish olive, similar to the set described by Dj. Coues ("Birds 

 of the North-west," p. 563). 



In June, 1876, several pairs were seen at Grass Lake, on the Fox 

 Eiver, but their nests were not discovered. In the collection of Dr. 

 J. W. Velie is a male hybrid between this species and the mallard. 



Genus Chaulelasmus Gray. 



263. C. streperus (Linn.). GADWALL. This beautiful species is 

 very common during the migrations from the middle of October to 

 the last of November, and from the first to the last of April. A very 

 rare summer resident. I have seen but two or three pairs here in the 

 breeding season. ';> 



Genus Mareca Steph. 



264. M. penelope Selby. EUROPEAN WIDGEON. Exceedingly 

 rare straggler. Two instances are known^ one quoted by Mr. Ridg- 

 way on the authority of D. G. Elliot, in "Proceedings of the Zoological 

 Society" (see Ridg., Cat. Birds Ascer. to occur in 111., 268), and a sec- 

 ond is furnished by Mr. C. N. llolden, jr., who informs me that a fine 



