28 NORTH AMERICAN DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS. 



sota, June 14, 1879; northern North Dakota, June 15, 1901; Manitoba, 

 June 5,1894; Crane Lake, Saskatchewan, June 9,1894; Nevada, May 

 29, 1868, and incubated eggs in Los Angeles County, Cal., April 16. 



Fall migration.— The first arrived at the southern end of Lower 

 California September 27, 1887; in northern New Mexico the species 

 was abundant the last days of September, 1904. The average date 

 when the last left central Minnesota was November 14. 



Mareca penelope (Linn.)- European Widgeon. 



This is an Old World species which has occurred as a straggler on 

 the Atlantic coast in Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, 

 Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Nova Scotia, New- 

 foundland, and Greenland; in the interior it has been found in Illinois, 

 Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Nebraska; on the Pacific 

 coast in California, British Columbia, and Alaska. It is not known 

 to breed anywhere in the Western Hemisphere. 



On the Atlantic coast the dates are almost entirely in the fall and 

 winter, from October 20 (near Halifax, Mass.) to March 25 (Keuka 

 Lake, New York) — there are only three records after February 5 — ■ 

 while in the interior its occurrence is as strictly confined to the spring, 

 from March 23 (English Lake, Ind.) to April 18 (Sandusky, Ohio). 

 The records for Greenland fall between September 29 and December 

 17; the California records are mostly in February, while those of 

 British Columbia are from December 25 to February 9, and the two 

 Alaska dates are October 12 and May 27. 



Mareca americana (Gmel. ). Baldpate. American Widgeon. 



Breeding range. — A line drawn from the western shore of Hudson 

 Bay to the western shore of Lake Michigan marks, approximately, the 

 eastern boundary of the breeding range of this species, and in the 

 eastern 200 miles of this district it is decidedly uncommon during 

 the nesting season. There are a few records of the bird's breeding in 

 Indiana (Hogback Lake, English Lake) and in Wisconsin (formerly 

 at Koshkonong and Horicon), but not until Minnesota is reached does 

 this duck breed commonly. West of the Mississippi it breeds abun- 

 dantly in North Dakota, a few in southern South Dakota, and rarely 

 or casually in Nebraska and Kansas. It is a common breeder in Colo- 

 rado, Utah, and Nevada (Truckee Valley), and probably breeds rarely 

 in Arizona (Mormon Lake), but as yet the species has not been recorded 

 as nesting in California. The main breeding range is northwestern 

 North America from Oregon and Minnesota north to the Mackenzie 

 Valley and central Alaska. A line from Fort Churchill, Hudson Bay, 

 to Franklin Bay is the approximate northeastern boundary of the 

 range, thence west to Kotzebue Sound. If this line from Frank- 

 lin Bay to Fort Churchill is continued to Chesapeake Bay, it marks 

 the approximate eastern limits at which the species is common in 



