106 GAME BIRDS OF CALIFORNIA 



a whistling sound, not so loud as that made by the Baldpate, is to 

 be heard under favorable conditions. "When flushed it is said to rise 

 into the air almost perpendicularly. 



Its food is made up largely of the seeds, leaves, buds and roots 

 of water plants. These it obtains along the shores of ponds, lakes 

 and rivers by "standing on its head," or "tilting," and searching 

 the bottom as does the Mallard. McAtee (19116, p. 1) states that 

 an examination of stomachs has shown that the food comprises a 

 lesser number of seeds but a larger per cent of pond weeds than that 

 of other ducks. W. E. Bryant (1893a, p. 55) found small seeds and 

 sand in a stomach which he examined. 



Although usually considered an excellent bird for the table, Beld- 

 ing (MS) agrees with Bendire that its flesh is at times very inferior. 

 He says: "I have known it to be so oily and have such a fishy taste 

 that I could not eat it [even when] nicely roasted." If this be true 

 the small numbers sold in the market (671 in season 1895-1896) 

 (Calif. Pish Comm., 1896, p. 42) might be attributed to this fact 

 rather than to actual numbers of the species obtainable. The well- 

 nigh exclusive vegetable diet of the Gadwall, on the other hand, would 

 appear to recommend it as a desirable bird for food. 



Almost as many Gadwalls were sold in the season 1911-1912 by 

 one game transfer company in San Francisco as were sold in all of 

 the markets of San Francisco and Los Angeles in the season 1895- 

 1896. If this be at all indicative, there can not have been a very 

 great diminution in their numbers during the last fifteeen years. The 

 greater decrease in more desirable ducks, however, will in time 

 increase the demand for the Gadwall and so increase the annual kill. 



Baldpate 



Mareca americana (Gmelin) 



Other names — American Widgeon; Widgeon; Anas americana; Mareca pene- 

 lope, part. 



Description — Adult male: Broad streak from forehead over top of head, 

 white; rest of head and neck thickly speckled with black on a white ground; 

 streak behind each eye metallic green, the two often joining on hind neck; 

 bill light bluish ash, the tip, extreme base, and lower mandible, black; iris 

 hazel; back pale pinkish brown, delicately undulated with black; rump ashy 

 brown, sometimes minutely undulated with white; middle upper tail coverts 

 pale ashy, the basal ones finely undulated with dusky; lateral ones velvety 

 black contrasting conspicuously with white patch at side of base of tail; tail 

 slaty black above, ashy beneath; large area on forepart of wing pure white, edged 

 in front and above with ashy brown ; speculum metallic green, bordered in front by 

 a narrow black bar and shading behind into a broad area of velvety black ; tertials 

 black, narrowly edged with white; rest of flight feathers slaty brown; axillars 



