50 
DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS 
light vinaceous brown ; back, rump, and aides gray crossed by fine wavy 
black and white lines; wing with green speculum framed in black, and 
bordered above by large white patch ; under, and sides of upper, tail 
coverts, black. Adult female: head and neck thickly specked all over 
with dusky on buff; breast, sides, and back mottled with dusky and buff ; 
speculum grayish, bordered above and below by narrow white tips to 
feathers. Young male: head and neck brown, thickly specked with black; 
breast and sides dull brown, back mottled dusky and brown. Length: 18- 
20, wing 10-11, bill 1.35-1.45. 
Distribution. — Northern part of Old World, occurring rarely in eastern 
United States, Nebraska, California, and Alaska. 
137. Mareca americana ( GW. ). Baldpate. 
Adult male. — Bill blue with black tip; crown white, bordered on sides 
and back with wide 
patch of metallic 
green ; rest of head 
and neck finely 
specked with dusky 
over huffy; chest 
and sides grayish 
lavender or vina¬ 
ceous, often barred 
and specked with 
dusky; belly white; 
back dark gray 
crossed with wavy 
lines of black, white, 
and lavender; spec¬ 
ulum green, framed 
in velvety black; 
bordered above by large white patch ; lower, and sides of upper, tail 
coverts, black. Adult female: head and neck finely specked with dusky 
on whitish ground, the dusky predominating on top of head; chest, sides, 
and back dull brown, mottled with blackish ; belly white ; wing with dull 
black speculum bordered above and below by white. Length: 18-22, wing 
10.25-11.00, bill 1.30-1.50. 
Distribution. — Whole of North America, breeding from Texas to North 
Dakota, and northward. 
Nest. — On the ground, in a bunch of grass, under a bush, or in a depres¬ 
sion lined with grass, leaves, and down. Eggs : 10 or 11, creamy or buffy 
white. 
Like most of the shoal water ducks, Colonel Goss tells us, the 
baldpates are to be looked for along the edges of lagoons, grassy 
lakes, and pools of water. The birds are not shy, he says, and “ their 
note, a sort of whew, whew, whew, uttered while feeding and swim¬ 
ming, enables the hunter to locate them in the thickest growth of 
water plants; and when in the air the whistling noise made by their 
wings heralds their approach.” Ordinarily their food habits are the 
same as those of the gad wall, but in the fall they often attach them¬ 
selves to a party of canvas-backs or other deep water ducks, that 
feed on Vallnneria, and following them about lie in wait while the 
Fig. G6. 
