BIRDS HUNTED FOR FOOD OR SPORT. 87 



when swimming, might at a distance be mistaken for female Mallards, 

 although smaller and darker. When they tip up to feed, however, the 

 white abdomen is seen; and this is also displayed when they stand up in 

 the water to flap their wings. In flight, the white abdomen and the 

 abrupt ending of the brown of the breast are also distinct field marks. 

 Another point of difference noted when watching the two birds together 

 on a pond is that the under surface of the wings of the Baldpate is gray, 

 that of the Mallard snowy white. A white bar is visible on the wing 

 of the Baldpate, and two are seen on that of the Mallard (C. W. Town- 

 send). 



Notes. — Male, a shrill whistling whee-you; a soft whistled sweet (Audubon). 

 Female, a low purring growl (Saunders). The female has a loud cry 

 like the syllables kaow, haow (Eaton). 



Season. — Uncommon or rare migrant; late February to April; early Sep- 

 tember to December. 



Range. — North America. Breeds from northwestern Alaska south to 

 Kansas and northern Indiana; winters from British Columbia, Mary- 

 land and Delaware (casually in Massachusetts and Rhode Island) 

 south to Lower California and West Indies; rare in migration in north- 

 ern Ontario and Newfoundland. 



History. 



The Baldpate is another fresh-water Duck, a valuable food 

 species once common here, now becoming rare. The early 

 historians speak of " widgens " in abundance, but they possi- 

 bly included more than one species under this name, as some 

 of our gunners do to-day. Wilson (1814) regarded it as very 

 common in winter along the whole Atlantic coast, from 

 Florida to Rhode Island. It must have been common then 

 in Massachusetts in spring and fall. 



Notes regarding its former and present status follow: 

 Not uncommon migrant (Maynard, 1870). Uncommon tran- 

 sient visitor (Townsend, Essex County, 1905). Formerly 

 not uncommon in autumn; rarely seen during recent years 

 (Brewster, Cambridge region). The reports of the experi- 

 ence of observers for an average of twenty-seven years, up 

 to 1909, read as follows: Baldpate increasing, nine; decreas- 

 ing, thirty-four. As usual, the shore counties give the greatest 

 number of reports on this species, Barnstable County leading 

 with seventeen. Plymouth County comes next, with thirteen, 

 and Essex next, with seven. Other reports indicate that the 



