RIVER DUCKS. 103

135. Am strepera. Linn. GADWALL; GRAY DUCK. Ad. 6 .— Top of the head streaked with rufous—brown and black ; sides of the head and neck pale buify, thickly streaked or spotted with black; breast and neck all around black, each feather with a border and an internal ring of white, giving the plumage a beautifully scaled appearance; belly white or grayish; rump, upper and under tail-coverts black; lesser wing-coverts chestnut. Ad. 9 .— Head and throat as in the male; back fuscous margined with bufl‘y; breast and sides ochraceous bufl'y, thickly spotted with blackish; belly and under tail—eoverts white, more or less thickly spotted with blackish; little or no chestnut on wing-eoverts; speculum ashy gray and white; axillars and under wing-eoverts pure white. L., 19'50; W., 1040; Tar., 155; B., 1'70.

Range—Northern hemisphere; in America, breeds in the interior locally from Kansas northward to the arctic regions ; known to breed on the Atlantic coast only at Antieosti; winters from Virginia to Florida and Texas.

Washington, common W. V., Sept. to Apl. Long Island, A. V.

Eggs, eight to twelve, pale bufi' or bufl'y white, 2'09 x 1'57 (Ridgw.).

This species is common in the interior and in Florida, but is rather rare in the other Atlantic States. Its call-note is said to resemble that of the Mallard, “but is rather more shrill, and frequently repeated.”

136. Anus penelope Linn. EUROPEAN WIDGEON. Ad. 6 .—Cfi'0W11 creamy bufl'; throat blackish, rest of head and neck rufous-brown ; upper ‘breast vinaccous, lower breast and belly white; aides and back finely marked with wavy black and white lines. Ad. 9 .—Head and throat deep ochraceous- buff, finely streaked and barred with black, darker above: upper breast and sides much the same color, by without black markings; lower breast and belly white; back grayish brown, the feathers with small ochraceous bufl'y bars; tertials fuscous, bordered by deep ochraceous bufg/ ; greater wing—cov— erts brownish gray, usually whiter on the outer webs and tipped with black. W., 10'50; 13., 1'40.

Remarks—The females of the European and American Widgeons bear a general resemblance to one another. Their distinguishing characters are mainly in the color of the head and throat, which are brown in the European species, and in the color of the greater wing-eoverts, which are whiter in the American bird. I have seen a caged male in the summer in a plumage closely resembling that of the female. Probably a similar change of plumage occurs in our A. amer'icana.

Range—Northern parts of the Old World; in North America breeds in the Aleutian Islands, and occurs occasionally in the eastern United States.

Washington, A. V., two records. Long Island, A. V.

Eggs, five to eight,’bufl'y white, 2'23 x 1'53.

“The call-note of the male is a shrill, whistling whee-31012, whence the local names ‘ Whew Duck ’ and ‘Whewer ’; but the female utters a low purr-ing growl. Both sexes, however, rise in silence” (Saunders).

137. Anus americana. G’mel. BALDPATE; AMERICAN WIDGEON. Ad. 6 .—Middle ofthe crown white or bufl'y; sides of the crown, from the eye