16 BULLETIN 862, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Muscidae; and 1 contained fly remains which were not identified. 

 The larvae of midges are found in immense numbers in stagnant 

 water in many localities, and are often an important food item for 

 water birds. 



The remaining insects, amounting to only 0.04 per cent, consisted 

 of a few caddisfly larvae (Phryganoidea), bugs, chiefly water boat- 

 men (Corixidae), a dragonfly nymph, remains of small crickets 

 (Nemohius sp.), a small aquatic caterpillar, a few small ants, and 

 unidentified eggs, larvae, and adults of other forms. 



MISCELLANEOUS ANIMAL FOOD, 0.1 PER CENT. 



Crustaceans furnished less than 1 per cent of the food of the bald- 

 pate. They consisted of sand fleas (Amphipoda), bivalved crusta- 

 ceans (Ostracoda), and a few unidentified forms. One stomach from 

 St. Paul Island, Alaska, was half .full x>i the remains of sand fleas, and 

 contained nothing else. These, together with bits of hydroids, a few 

 spiders and water mites, and the teeth and scales of small fish, made 

 up the remainder of the animal food. 



EUROPEAN WIDGEON. 



( Mareca penelope. ) 



The European, or red-headed, widgeon is an Old World species 

 but has been noted occasionally at a number of points on the Atlantic 

 coast of North America, and in the North Central and Lake States. 

 There are also several scattered records of its occurrence on the 

 Pacific coast. In appearance the male European widgeon is similar 

 to the baldpate except that the crown is creamy buff instead of 

 white and the remainder of the head and upper part of the neck 

 are reddish brown, with a black area on the chin and throat. 



FOOD HABITS. 



Not a great deal is known of its food habits in the United States. 

 Sanford, 7 discussing it, says that, "unlike the American baldpate," 

 it is frequently seen on salt water, feeding almost entirely on 

 the short grass growing on the bottom. However, the baldpate also 

 is known to feed commonly in salt water. Only five stomachs of 

 the European widgeon were available for examination. Two of 

 these were from Back Bay, southeastern Virginia; one contained 

 foliage of widgeon grass (Ruppia maritima) and eelgrass (Zostera 

 marina); the other, only widgeon grass. The third was from the 

 flats of the Susquehanna Kiver near its mouth in northeastern Mary- 

 land and contained rootstocks of pondweeds (Potamogeton sp.), bits 

 of stems and a few seeds of dodder (Cuscuta sp.), and a few seeds 

 of bur-reed (Sparganium sp.). The fourth stomach, from the vicin- 



i Sanford, L. C, L. B. Bishop, and T. S. Van Dyke, The Waterfowl Family, p. 91, 1903. 



