AMERICAN WIDGEON 
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vantage for the table lies in its always being fat, averaging in this respect perhaps 
better than any other duck. Some have even classed it as better than the Canvas- 
back (Baird, Brewer and Ridgway, 1884). On the Pacific coast, however, it is not 
always so “tasty,” and does not enjoy so high a reputation. 
Hunt. On large waters Baldpates are extremely hard birds to take in any 
numbers. They do not scatter evenly over a marsh as some species do, and it is 
seldom that a gunner will find himself in the right place for a large kill. Then, too, 
they fly high, and are too sharp-eyed to be fooled by bush-blinds and floating bat- 
teries (or sink-boxes) in the deep-water sounds. The uncertainty of their behavior 
makes them exceedingly interesting to the sportsman shooting over wooden decoys. 
Their habit of circling many times and whistling loudly gives him a chance to test 
his ability to coax them in by imitating their whistle. As with the Pintail, one gets 
mostly long, hard shots, but Baldpate are comparatively tender ducks and are 
easily knocked down by small-sized shot. 
Behavior in Captivity. Baldpates have always been sporadically kept in 
American collections and do well in captivity. So far as I know they were not bred 
until recent years, when Mr. John A. Cox of Brewster, Massachusetts, reared some, 
according to Job (1915). They are one of the most interesting and beautiful ducks 
for an ornamental pond, for besides their stylish appearance and rather musical notes, 
they are always active, and their vivacity keeps the other birds alert. 
Their absence from European collections seems quite remarkable. The species is 
not included in the 1896 list of animals in the London Gardens, and it was apparently 
not kept there even in 1911. But it was imported for the Duke of Bedford and Mr. 
W. H. St. Quintin bred it on his estate at Scampston. It was there that Sir Richard 
Graham obtained stock for his well-known experiments at Netherby. The Right 
Honourable Earl Grey of Falloden writes me that his Baldpates have interbred freely 
with the European Widgeon, but this is the first instance of this cross that I have 
heard of, and I have never seen such hybrids described. Mr. Hugh Wormald 
showed me some fine breeding pairs at his ponds in East Dereham, Norfolk, in the 
spring of 1922, and during that season one of his females laid three separate clutches 
although only five eggs out of the whole lot were fertile. This stock was a good deal 
inbred. 
So far as I know the American Widgeon has not been much kept on the Continent 
but the Berlin Gardens had specimens which bred for the first time in 1909 (Heinroth, 
1910a) and Mr. F. E. Blaauw (in litt.) has also bred them in Holland. 
Hybrids. Wild hybrids between the Baldpate and other species seem to be 
unusually rare. Only crosses with the Mallard and with the Gadwall have been 
