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more common than the Pintail, and is greatly exceeded by Mallard and Black 
Duck. It represents about 8% of all ducks shot in the thirteen seasons 1908-09 to 
1921-22 at the Canaveral Club on the east coast of Florida. At St. Vincent’s Isle, 
western Florida, it is said to be common, and the same is probably true of the whole 
Gulf Coast. McAtee (U.S. Biological Survey) says he never saw larger numbers any- 
where than at Rockport (Port Bay), Texas, in December, 1910. In the Rio Grande 
valley. New Mexico, the Baldpate averages 5% of the ducks (Leopold, 1919). 
Statistics for the Pacific coast are very meager. In the years 1910-11, 14,838 
Baldpate were received by the American Game Transfer Company of San Francisco 
in a total of 71,793 ducks (20%). The Hunters’ Game Transfer Company of that 
same city, handled during the years 1906 to 1911, 357,114 ducks, of which 62,798 
(18%) were Baldpate. In Washington the Baldpate used to appear in October in 
tremendous numbers, 500,000 being estimated on the Nisqually Flats. But in the 
years just before 1909 it is said to have greatly diminished in abundance (W. L. 
Dawson and Bowles, 1909). 
Kumlien and Hollister (1903) found it decreasing in Wisconsin; it represented 
only 2.5% of the ducks killed near Delavan between 1892 and 1899 (Hollister, 1920). 
Like other ducks the species has shown a marked increase as a breeding bird in the 
middle West since 1915, responding readily to increased protection, and it has been 
recorded by the Game Commissioner as nesting in unusual numbers in Minnesota in 
1918. In North Dakota some of the U.S. Biological Survey collectors found it a 
rather rare breeder, but Bent (1901-02) says he found twelve nests in half an hour 
on an island in one of the larger lakes. In British Columbia, according to Major 
Allan Brooks (1918) this is one of the speeies that is on the increase in the interior, a 
result possibly of the increase of duck-weeds on the larger lakes. Harper’s (MS.) 
estimates of its status as a breeding species in the Lake Athabasca region place it 
surprisingly low. He found it about seventh in order of abundance. In the Shoal 
Lake region of Manitoba the species is said to be growing very scarce (Taverner, 
1919). In the Edmonton district of Alberta it is very plentiful and breeds com- 
monly. 
Enemies. Nothing specific is known. 
Damage. This is probably less than with Mallards and Pintails on account of its 
preference for pond-weeds and open sheets of water. 
Food Value. My personal opinion is that the Baldpates of Currituck, and even 
those killed on our Massachusetts ponds, are second only to the Canvas-back in its 
prime. Frank Forester extolled its virtues, and yet it is surprising to find how little 
it is appreciated in comparison with the Canvas-back or Redhead. Its great ad- 
