BALDPATE. 
WIDGEON. 
Anas Americana. 
Char. Mantle brownish gray, varied with fine waved lines of black; 
head and neck grayish white, with dark spots, — the crown with few or no 
spots ; a green patch on tire sides of the head behind the eyes ; wing- 
patch green, bordered with black ; tail grayish brown ; breast mottled 
reddish brown ; belly white ; bill and legs grayish blue. Length 19 
inches. 'I'he female has a dark-brown back ; head and neck yellowish 
white, spotted with black. 
Nesi. Under a bush on upland, or on a dry knoll in a marsh ; made of 
weed-stems, grass, and leaves, — sometimes a mere depression amid dead 
leaves, — lined with down. 
Eggs. 7-12; ivory white; average size 2.20 X 1.50. 
This species, so nearly allied to the European Widgeon, has 
not been found in the old continent ; yet it retires north to 
breed, inhabiting in summer the woody districts of the remote 
fur countries near the Saskatchewan and the coasts of Hudson 
Bay as far as the 68th degree of northern latitude. In autumn 
and winter these birds are common in nearly all parts of the 
Union, many wintering in North and South Carolina in the 
