80 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



visitor only. As it has never been seen to the north I am in- 

 clined to believe that it breeds on some secluded island of the 

 Aleutian Islands. {Nelson.) 



137. American Widgeon. Baldpate. 



Mareca americana (Gmel.) Stephens. 1824. 



Reported as a common migrant in Newfoundland {Reeks) and 

 southern Labrador. {Packard.) Rare migrant in Nova Scotia, 

 New Brunswick and Quebec ; extending its range to Moose River, 

 where one was observed by Spreadborough in June, 1896, and 

 the south shore of Hudson Bay at Fort Churchill. It is rather 

 more common in Ontario, but only as a migrant. 



This is a late duck to arrive in the prairie region, and yet, 

 according to Richardson, it breeds abundantly as far north as 

 Lat. 68". It breeds abundantly in the marshes of the southern 

 part of the prairie region, and is still more abundant to the north. 

 It is a common species in Manitoba, and northwesterly. One pair 

 was found breeding at Banff, Rocky Mountains, in May, 1894. 



Fannin and Brooks report it common in the Fraser valley and 

 interior of British Columbia, while Nelson and Turner say that 

 it is a comparatively rare -breeding duck in Alaska, though it 

 breeds as far north as Kotzebue Sound, according to Nelson. 



From the species coming late to Manitoba and yet breeding 

 as far north as Lat. 68°, I am led to believe that the race which 

 breeds in Manitoba is different from that which is found in 

 northern Alaska and the Barren Grounds, and that the latter 

 race has its winter home on the Pacific side of the continent. 



Breeding Notes. — Breeding in the vicinity of Lake Manitoba, 

 1896. {Dippie.) This species also breeds throughout Manitoba 

 and Assiniboia. The eggs are similar to the Gadwell, but average 

 smaller in size. I have a clutch often eggs in my collection which 

 I took at Shoal Lake, Manitoba, June i8th, 1894. {Raine.) A few 

 reached Edmonton, Alberta, by April 17th, 1897, but not until 

 May 5th were they common. On June ist found a nest contain- 

 ing eleven eggs in a clump of willows about a quarter of a mile 

 from water. The nest was of the usual character, and, like all 

 other ducks' nests, was lined with down. {Spreadborough.) 



