The Widgeons 



No. 347 



European Widgeon 



A. 0. U. Xo. 136. Mareca penelope (Linnaeus). 



Description. — Adult male: Similar to that of M. americana, but top of head 

 buffy or creamy buff instead of white, — green wanting or showing only in traces; 

 throat blackish; rest of head and neck rufous-brown (auburn). Adult female: Similar 

 to that of M. americana, but head and neck deeper ochraceous-buff or rusty. Size 

 of americana. 



Nesting. — Does not breed in California. Nest and Eggs: Much as in 

 M. americana. 



General Range. — Chiefly the Eastern Hemisphere, breeding northerly from 

 Iceland to Kamschatka; wintering south to Abyssinia, India, China, and even Borneo. 

 A casual visitor to various American localities, and coastwise to Florida and California. 



Occurrence in California. — An occasional winter visitor. Many records. 



Authorities. — Cooper, Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., vol. iv., 1868, p. 9 (San Francisco 

 market); C. H. Townsend, Auk, vol. iii.. 1886, p. 491 (Eureka); Grinnell, Bryant and 

 Storer, Game Birds Calif., 1918, p. 1 1 1 (desc, habits, occurrence, etc.); Colburn, Condor, 

 vol. xxiii., 1921, p. 65 (Guadalupe, Santa Barbara Co.). 



IN NO OTHER case within my knowledge has the gregarious in- 

 stinct so betrayed the migration instinct, or led it to so many lapses, as 

 in the case of the European Widgeon. The bird is not known to breed in 

 America, nor even in Greenland, yet the map of the United States is 

 peppered with record stations of its occurrence in winter and in migra- 

 tions. There are a dozen such records for California, and the number is 

 being steadily augmented. The marks of difference between penelope 

 and americana are decided, and apparently unbridgeable, or we should 

 begin to suspect reversion or dichroism, or some other obscure physical 

 manifestation. We do not know where in the dim North the breeding 

 range of our ducks overlaps that of penelope, nor where the wanderers 

 run foul of our superior attractions. European Widgeons are like meteors 

 in the sportsman's firmament, and it is a pretty game to see who will bring 

 in the next aerolite. 



No. 348 



Baldpate 



A. O. U. No. 137. Mareca americana (Gmelin). 



Synonyms. — American Widgeon. Wigeon. Green-headed Wigeon. 

 Description. — Adult male: Head and neck white or light buffy, thickly speck- 

 led, except on forehead and crown, with dusky; a space from eye along side of crown 



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