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ANAS AMERICANA 
The older writers were much impressed by the parasitic habits of the Baldpate 
when feeding among diving ducks, especially the Canvas-back and Red-head. They 
noted the superior agility of the Baldpate in seizing wild celery and other food 
brought up by deej>-water ducks. I have often watched them feeding among Scaups 
and Redhead, and I believe that this association is of the most amicable kind. The 
divers prefer the roots and seed-pods of the vegetation brought up, while the Bald- 
pate is interested chiefly in the blades of these grasses, so there is probably no occa- 
sion for the contention which some writers describe. 
On the breeding grounds this species does not commonly deposit its eggs in the 
nests of other ducks, but in North Dakota, Bent (1901-02) found one Baldpate’s 
nest containing eggs of the White-winged Scoter, and another containing an egg of 
the Lesser Scaup. Shoveller’s eggs have also been found in a Baldpate’s nest (Job, 
1902). 
Voice. The character of the voice is that of the European Widgeon, but the 
whistle of the male is less harsh and piercing, and the bird seems less vociferous. 
The female is a silent bird, and ordinarily its note is never heard in autumn or winter. 
The male’s note may be described as a soft, rather musical, Teal-like whistle, usually 
double and sometimes trisyllabic. The female’s ordinary note, which is essentially 
that of the female European Widgeon, is a sort of grating croak, often represented 
as grrr-grrr or karrr. Major Allan Brooks told me that he had occasionally heard 
young females, when coming to decoys, uttering a rough croaking quack, — a 
rapidly repeated ka-ka-ka, almost chattering. I do not remember ever having 
heard this note myself. 
The trachea is about 160 mm. long, and the tracheal bulb, which is ellipsoidal, 
faces to the left and front. It is markedly smaller than the same structure in the 
European bird, measuring about 17 mm. in its longest axis, by 12 mm. in its shorter 
axis. 
Food. The Baldpate is very largely a vegetable feeder, and its food-habits in 
general bear a great resemblance to those of the Gadwall. But it is even less of a 
seed-eater than the latter, and depends largely on pond-weeds and wild celery for its 
sustenance. It also grazes on upland grass more commonly than any other Ameri- 
can duck. Sportsmen have often remarked that the Baldpate is much more diflBcult 
to bait than the Mallard or the Black Duck. Nevertheless I have seen them come 
well to bait in a pond on Martha’s Vineyard Island, Massachusetts. Audubon speaks 
of their alighting in cornfields in the South, and feeding on worms, insects and grain, 
but it is probable that the actual food was mostly grass sprouts. 
The only exhaustive study of the Baldpate’s winter diet was made by the U.S. 
Biological Survey, and was based on 255 stomachs collected between September 
