118 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
General Habits. —Formerly one of the most abundant of ducks, 
the Baldpate, whose name describes it, has been greatly reduced in num¬ 
bers by sportsmen and market hunters. “Like most other ducks/ 7 Mr. 
Henshaw wrote, it is “fond of wild celery, but as its skill as a diver is 
small, it essays the role of highwayman, and when a Canvasback or 
Redhead appears on the surface with a bill full of the coveted grass, the 
fruit of honest toil, it snatches the booty and makes off with it 7 ’ (1915, 
p. 110). 
In the fall migration, September 27, 1904, a Baldpate was taken still 
in old worn plumage but with its body bristling with pinfeathers. 
In flight the wings of the Baldpate make a whistling noise, and when 
feeding, Mr. Eaton notes, the male gives its “mewing whistle resembling 
the syllables whew , wheWy } while the female has “a loud cry like the 
syllables kaow, kaow” (1909, p. 191). During courtship, Doctor Town¬ 
send observes, “he continually emits gentle but eager whistling notes, 
and with neck extended and head low, bill wide open and wings elevated 
behind so that the tips are pointed up at an angle of forty-five degrees, 
he swims rapidly over the water behind or beside the duck. Occasion¬ 
ally he pecks playfully at the side of her head, and now arid then in 
his excitement jumps clear of the water and flies for two or three yards 77 
(1916, p. 15). The mating flight, similar to that of the Mallard and 
Gadwall but given with still more spirit, was witnessed by Doctor 
Wetmore at Lake Burford. 
Additional Literature.—Bent, A. C., Auk, XVIII, 335-336, 1901. 
AMERICAN PINTAIL: Mfila acuta tzitzihoa (Vieillot) 
Description. — Male: Length about 26-30 inches, wing 10.2-11.2, middle 
tail feathers 7.2-9.5, bill 1.8-2.1, tarsus 1.5-1.8. Female: Length 21-23.5 inches, 
wing 9.6-10.1, middle tail feathers 4.5-5, bill 1.8-2.1, tarsus 1.6. Weight: Early 
arriving hens, 1J4 lbs.; late drakes, 2 l A lbs. (Leopold). Neck long , bill slender, 
tail of male with central feathers much elongated, of female and young, taper¬ 
ing and pointed but not elongated. Adult male in winter and breeding plumage: l 
Head with snuff brown patch , with green and purplish gloss, cut next to kind 
neck by conspicuous white streak extending up from white underparts, fore-back 
and sides gray, finely lined; long middle tail feathers black, long scapulars 
striped with velvety black and silvery gray; speculum coppery or violet bordered in 
front by brown, and behind by black and white bars; axillars mottled, wing linings 
grayish brown; iris brown, bill blackish and lead color, legs and feet grayish. Adult 
male in post-nuptial eclipse: Head and neck pale brown without brown patch and 
white streak; wings with coarse dull brown streaks. Adult female in winter and 
breeding plumage: Brown, heavily marked with blackish on top of head, sides of 
head and entire neck bufTy brown, finely streaked, throat lighter; upperparts and 
sides with black U-shaped marks and white edgings, wing with speculum dull brown, 
only faintly iridescent; edge of wing (secondaries) like male tipped with white; 
wing linings dusky. Adult female in eclipse plumage: Similar to winter female but 
1 Mr. Aldo Leopold reports that near Albuquerque full adult male plumage (whether from the im¬ 
mature or the eclipse, or both, is not known) is acquired by January 1. 
