312 SWIMMERS. 



open rivers and bays, sometimes considerably inland. Indeed, 

 I have never seen them anywhere so numerous as in the 

 Neuse River, round Newbern, forty miles from the ocean, 

 where, in company with the Canvas-back and Buffle-head, 

 they are seen constantly in February and March. They are 

 also numerous in Chesapeake Bay, and in the course of the 

 winter extend their migrations as far as St. Domingo and other 

 of the West India Islands, as well as into Cayenne in the trop- 

 ical parts of the continent. 



The Widgeon, or Baldpate, is a frequent attendant on the 

 Canvas-back, and often profits by this association. The for- 

 mer, not being commonly in the habit of diving for subsistence, 

 or merely from caprice, watches the motions of its industrious 

 neighbor, and as soon as the Canvas-back rises with the favorite 

 root on which they both greedily feed, the Baldpate snatches 

 the morsel and makes off with his booty. These birds are 

 always very alert and lively, feeding and swimming out into 

 the ponds and rivers at all hours of the day, but are extremely 

 watchful, sheltering in coves and behind the land, and on the 

 slightest attempt to steal upon them, immediately row out into 

 the stream beyond gunshot, and then only take to wing when 

 much disturbed. In Carolina and the West Indies they fre- 

 quent the rice-fields in flocks, and in Martinico are said to 

 do considerable damage to the crops. When thus feeding in 

 company they have a sort of sentinel on the watch. At times 

 they keep in covert until twiUght, and are then traced by their 

 low, guttural, and peculiar whistle, or 'whew, 'whew, as well as 

 other calls ; and their whistle is frequently imitated with success 

 to entice them within gunshot. They feed much in the win- 

 ter upon aquatic vegetables, cropping the pond-weed as well as 

 other kinds of freshwater plants and seeds, and sometimes 

 dive and collect the roots and leaves of the sea-wrack. 



Although generally distributed throughout North America, the 

 Baldpate rarely appears on the Atlantic coast excepting in winter, 

 when it is found on the shores of the Southern States. It is a 

 " tolerably common summer resident " of Manitoba, writes Ernest 

 Thompson, and the bird is well known in Ontario. 



