20 
BIRDS OF DURHAM AND VICINITY. 
Mareca americana. Baldpate. 137. 
Another rare visitant. Old gunners say it used to be fairly common 
spring and fall on Great Bay, but in late years Baldpates have been 
few and far betu'een. In twenty years of collecting at Hampton Mr. 
Shaw has been able to get but one, a female, which he mounted and 
still has. Its food is similar to that of Black Ducks. 
Nettion carolinensis. Greex-winged Teal. 139. 
This Teal, like its cousin, the Blue-wing, is of irregular occurrence. 
October is its usual month with us. Of the two species, this is 
the more common. Both are river ducks and have practically the 
same bill of fare. 
Querquedula discors. Blue-winged Teal. 140. 
This liitle duck is not seen here very often, but now and then one 
happens along in the early part of September. Mr. Shaw's collection 
contains one which he took at Hampton. Its food consists princi- 
pally of insects, mollusks, and seeds. 
Spatula clypeata. Shoveller. 142. 
The Shoveller is a rarity that does not often fall to the lot of a gunner 
here about. Mr. Shaw has a male taken in autumn some years ago 
at Hampton. Its great bill, which is about three inches long, and 
quite broad at the tip, is sufficient to identify it. Its food consists of 
both animal and vegetable matter. Insects, worms, mollusks, seeds, 
and grass are all included in its diet. 
Dafila acuta. Pintail. 143. 
Pintails are rather scarce spring and fall migrants. Its long neck 
and tapering tail, which give it a peculiar swan-like grace, enable one 
to recognize it at a long distance. 
Aix sponsa. Wood Duck. 144. 
The number of Wood Ducks found here has greatly diminished of 
late years, so that they have now become actually scarce. I have 
several times seen them in October, on Durham river adjacent to Mr. 
Samuel Hoyf s field, where several oaks are standing on the bank of a 
pool. Here they obtain acorns in abundance from the bottom of the 
river, where the water is so shallow that they can pick them up as 
they idly swim about. Some years ago, Mr. Walter Shute of New- 
market found a Wood Duck's nest on the ground at the base of a tree 
