176 
ANAS PENELOPE 
Greenland 
The status of the European Widgeon in the New World is still undetermined. In addition to a few 
indefinite early records for Greenland, chiefly for the southern parts, I find two records for Angmag- 
salik on the east coast given by Helms (1910), who says there are four records in all for 
the east coast. On the west coast the species was found at Arsuk, December 17, 1900 
(Helms, 1904), and the Peary Expedition took a specimen as far north as Holsteinborg, October, 
1894 (F. M. Chapman, 1899). In the Schioler collection there are at least seven specimens from 
various parts of Greenland (Schioler, 1912). On the American continent the northernmost eastern 
record is that recently given by C. W. Townsend (1917), who found a specimen in Mr. Beetz’s collec- 
tion taken at Piashte Bay, southern Labrador, the only record for this Province. Cooke (1906) says 
it has occurred in Newfoundland. It has been taken in at least twenty-two different States. For the 
Atlantic coast States there are numerous records. Downs (1888) says it is rare in Nova Scotia and 
there appears to be only one good record (Piers, 1915). In the New England States it has been found 
in Maine (Norton, 1913), New Hampshire (Hardy, 1909), doubtfully in Vermont (G. M. Allen, 
1909), many times in Massachusetts (Forbush, 1912; Phillips, 1920; etc.), in Rhode Island (Brewster, 
Auk, 1909, p. 186; G. M. Allen, 1909). I find only one or two records for Connecticut, but several 
for Long Island (Eaton, 1910), New Jersey (Stone, 1909), Maryland (Kirkwood, 1895), Virginia 
North (Rives, 1890), North Carolina (Pearson, Brimley and Brimley, 1919) and Florida 
America (Fay, 1910). Undoubtedly the species is far more common in North .\merica than 
has hitherto been supposed, as the recent multiplication of records and my own experience in 
Massachusetts has shown. Some of the earlier writers (Turnbull, 1869, for example) speak of it 
as regular in its appearance. There are now numerous records for the interior. It has been 
reported for New York State (Eaton, 1910), Pennsylvania (Cooke, 1906), Ohio (L. Jones, 
1903), Indiana (Deane, 1905; A. W. Butler, 1898), Michigan (H. Herrick, 1902; Barrows, 1912), 
Illinois (Ridgway, 1895; Cory, 1909), Wisconsin (Kumlien and Hollister, 1903; W. Taylor, 1919), 
Missouri (Widmann, 1907) and Nebraska (Bruner, Walcott and Swenk, 1905). There are also 
two records for Wyoming (Grave and Walker, 1913) making, except for Idaho, an unbroken 
chain of States from the Atlantic to the Pacific, in which the species has been taken. On the 
Pacific coast the European Widgeon has been found a number of times. There are about ten good 
records for California (Grinnell, Bryant and Storer, 1918) while in Oregon it has actually been spoken 
of as a common migrant (Pope, 1895-96) ! On the other hand there are very few (apparently only 
two) records for Washington (Bowles, 1915; Warburton, 1917), and so far as I know only three for 
British Columbia (Kermode, 1904). Mr. Vernon Bailey (MS.), however, states that Gray took one 
on Stikine Flats and he believes he has seen others. In the interior of British America specimens were 
taken by Frank Russell (1898) at Grand Rapids, Lake Winnipeg, and on August 22 at Fort Rae, 
Great Slave Lake! Neither of Russell’s records is included in J. and J. M. Macoun’s (1909) cata- 
logue, and they are certainly extraordinary. Nevertheless it is worth recalling that Richardson (fide 
Baird, Brewer and Ridgway, 1884) long since expressed the belief that the species breeds in the 
wooded regions of the fur countries and north to 68° north latitude. This statement, taken in con- 
junction with the fact that the great majority of the records for both coasts are winter occurrences, 
while the majority of the inland records are spring occurrences, would almost suggest the existence 
of an American stock, resident in this continent and migratory along the same routes as its native 
relatives. The statement has often been made that the species breeds on the Aleutian Islands, but I 
must confess that after a careful search I have been unable to find any evidence to support it. Elliott 
(1882) says distinctly that it does not breed on the Pribilovs, and Dali (1874) says it winters on 
Unalaska, migrating May 1. Nelson (1887) belieres it nests on the Aleutians. The statement that it 
actually nests was, so far as I know, first made by Freke (1882) who says he is indebted to Mr. Ridg- 
way for this information. The statement is then repeated in Baird, Brewer and Ridgway (1884) 
without comment. It is again made in the American Ornithologists’ Union Checklist for 1895, 
but is very significantly omitted from the edition of 1910. To my knowledge there is absolutely 
