190 
ANAS AMERICANA 
never freckled darkly all over. In July the breeding females become darker, especially on the top of 
the head, and on the mantle and scapulars. Bill, legs and feet almost the same as in the male, but 
somewhat duller in tone; iris dark browm. 
IVing 236-258 mm.; bill 33-37; tarsus 37-40. 
Weight 1 pound 8 ounces to 2 pounds (0.68 to 0.95 kilograms), maximum weight recorded once by 
myself. Average for birds in good condition 1 pound 12 ounces (0.79 kilograms). 
Young Female in First (Juvenal) Plumage: Like adult female, but mantle more uniform and 
lacking light bars for the most part. Wing-coverts lacking the well-defined light borders of adult 
specimens. Green of speculum absent or poorly developed. Tips of tail-feathers blunt. No elonga- 
tion of central feathers. 
Young Male in First Plum.vge: Closely resembles young female, but by September the median 
wing-coverts usually begin to show more white, mixed with the gray feathers. The mantle is more or 
less barred with fulvous, as in the adult female. In the month of October obscurely vermiculated 
feathers begin to appear upon the mantle or scapulars, and a few iridescent green feathers may be 
present above or behind the ej'e. 
Young Male in First W'inter: Gradually assumes adult plumage, which may be attained by 
March, but is probably very seldom perfect before the age of sixteen or seventeen months, that is 
by the second autumn. 
Male in Eclipse Plumage: There is a general resemblance to the female, but the coloring of the 
head, sides of the breast and fianks is much richer in tone, inclining to chestnut instead of to dull 
brownish. The mantle and scapulars also are somewhat richer in color and may contain a few 
vermiculated black-and-white feathers. The wing has the large white elbow-patch as in the winter 
plumage, so that the adult male can always be told at a glance at any time during the summer. It is 
not easy to distinguish this species in full eclipse from the European Widgeon in full eclipse except 
by the much grayer head of the former. 
Young in Down: Apparently some are indistinguishable from those of the European species. Other 
specimens which I have seen show a little more tendency to a dark orbital streak or to a difference in 
tone of the body coloring (see under European Widgeon), but the downy young of ducks are apt to 
vary considerably, and I do not think this denotes any real difference. Young with first feathers 
upon scapular region, abdomen and sides, can be easily told from the young of Mallards by the more 
rusty look of the flanks, and by the shorter bill. 
DISTRIBUTION 
Breeding Range 
The breeding grounds of the American Widgeon lie chiefly in western Canada, though it nests to a 
certain extent in the plains of our western States. The easternmost records of its breeding are for 
Indiana, where, according to A. W. Butler (1898) it is a rare summer resident in the northern part. 
The U.S. Biological Survey has more recent notes of its nesting at English Lake in the same State. 
It does not breed in Michigan (Barrows, 1912), nor in Illinois, and only to a very limited extent in 
Wisconsin, about Lake Kushkonong (Kumlien and Hollister, 1903; U.S. Biological Survey). Accord- 
ing to Roberts (1919) it does not breed even in Minnesota, but Hatch (1892) gives several older rec- 
ords for the State, and Mr. Avery, of the U.S. Biological Survey, found many breeding there in 
1018. 
