BALDPATE 109 



For its nest the Baldpate usually selects a place on high, dry- 

 ground often some distance from water. Sometimes the nest is placed 

 at the foot of a tree or shrub ; at other times it is situated in weeds, 

 grasses or bushes. In either event there is little or no attempt at 

 concealment. The nest is lined with dry grass and weed stems, and 

 is abundantly supplied with light gray down by the female parent. 

 In Alaska the place selected for nesting is said to be exactly like that 

 chosen by the Pintail. 



No complete account of the courtship of the Baldpate has yet 

 been published. C. W. Townsend (1916, p. 15) says of the male bird 

 in Massachusetts: 



In his courting he continually emits gentle but eager whistling notes, and 

 with neck extended and head low, bill wide open and wings elevated behind 

 so that the tips are pointed up at an angle of forty-five degrees, he swims 

 rapidly over the water beside or behind the duck. Occasionally he pecks 

 playfully at the side of her head, and now and then in his excitement jumps 

 clear of the water and flies for two or three yards. 



Evidently the female alone performs the duties of incubation. 

 The males remain in the vicinity for some time after their mates begin 

 to sit, but when the time of moulting arrives they retire to grassy 

 marshes and edges of lakes for concealment and there for the time 

 being lead solitary lives. If the female be surprised while on the nest 

 she usually rises silently into the air and flies to the nearest water, 

 although sometimes she will alight on the ground only a short distance 

 from the nest. 



The young, before they are able to fly, seek the shelter of grass- 

 bordered lakes. But as soon as they can fly they repair to river- 

 shores and other open feeding-places, where they obtain aquatic 

 insects, small shells, and seeds and roots of various plants. The 

 broods often separate before leaving for the south in September 

 (Baird, Brewer and Ridgway, 1884, I, p. 524). 



Nelson (1887, p. 68) gives the following facts regarding the 

 behavior of a female Baldpate and her young in Alaska. He came 

 suddenly upon a bird, with her brood of ten or a dozen little duck- 

 lings, in a small pond. As he approached, the parent uttered several 

 low, guttural notes and suddenly fluttered across the water and fell 

 heavily at his feet. Meanwhile the young swam to the opposite side 

 of the pond and hegan to scramble out into the grass. "Wishing to 

 observe the old bird's manoeuvers, he poked at her with his gun as 

 she fluttered about at his feet, but she always managed to elude his 

 strokes and, just as the last of her brood climbed out of the water, 

 she slyly edged off, and suddenly took flight to another pond some 

 distance away. As quickly as possible he ran to the point where 

 the ducklings had left the water ; yet, though but a few moments had 



