BIRDS—AN A1 IN A E — M AREC A AMERICANA. 
783 
A specimen of this bird from Illinois, otherwise similar, is entirely without chestnut red on 
the wing. 
List of specimens. 
Caul. 
No. 
Sex. 
Locality. 
When col¬ 
lected. 
Whence obtained. 
Orig. 
No. 
Collected by— 
Length. 
Stretch 
of wings. 
Wing. 
2739 
9790 
9793 
5132 
9792 
9794 
4560 
9788 
9796 
9791 
S. F. Baird. 
3 
14 
June 22,1855 
May 23,1855 
W. J. Shaw. 
3 
9 
Janos, Mex. 
April —, 1855 
Major Emory .. 
87 
Dr. Kennedy. 
19.50 
34.50 
10.50 
Feb. —,1855 
Mar. —,1854 
Feb. —, 1854 
Lieut. Trowbridge. 
3 
3 
32 
MARECA, Stephens. 
Mareca, Stephens, Shaw’s Gen. Zool. XII, n, 1824, 130. Type Jlnas penelope, L. 
Penelope, Kaup, 1829. 
Ch. —Bill shorter than the head, and equal to the inner toe claw. The sides parallel to near the end, which is rather obtusely 
pointed, the nail occupying the tip, and about one-third as broad as the bill. Bill rather high; the upper lateral angle at 
the base not prominent, nor extending as far back as the lower edge. Tail pointed ; not half the wings. 
The North American and European species of Mareca have the upper parts finely waved 
transversely with black and gray or reddish brown, the under parts, with the usual exceptions, 
snowy white. The top of the head is uniform white or cream color ; the neck more or less 
spotted. The middle and greater coverts are white, the latter tipped with black. The 
speculum is green, encircled by black. The tertials are black on the outer web, edged with 
hoary white ; the entire outer web of one of them hoary. The characteristics of the species are 
as follows: 
Head and neck grayish, the feathers of the former thickly spotted, of tlie latter banded with 
black. Top of head nearly white ; a broad and continuous patch of green around and behind 
the eye.....71/. americana. 
Head and neck reddish brown or cinnamon, the feathers of the former slightly spotted with 
dusky, of the latter almost uniformly colored. Top of head cream colored ; only a faint trace 
of green around the eye, and a few spots behind it. 31. penelope. 
MARECA AMERICANA, Stephens. 
Baldpate; American Widgeon. 
Jlnas americana, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 526.— Lath. Ind. II, 861.— Wilson, Am. Orn. VIII, 1814, 86 ; pi. 
Ixix.—B on. Obs. No. 259.— Aud. Orn. Biog. IV, 1838, 337 ; pi. 345.— Ib. Syn. 1839, 279.— 
Ib. Birds Amer. VI, 1843, 259 ; pi. 389. 
Mareca americana, Stepii. Shaw’s Gen. Zool. XII, ii, 1824, 135.—Sw. F. Bor. Am. II, 1831, 445 .—Bon. List, 
1838 .—Eyton, Mon. Anat. 1838, 116. 
Jlnas ( Soschas ) americana, Nuttall, Man. II, 1834, 389. 
Jhnerican ividgeon, Penn. II, 567. 
