BALDPATE. Mareca americana (Gmelin)

Field characters.—Size medium for a duck; feathers at junction of wing and body below (axillars) white. Male: top of head white (whence the name "baldpate"), green patch behind eye; wing with patch of white followed by one of green; patch on flank white; under tail coverts black; back and sides pale brown; under surface chiefly white. Female: Upper surface barred grayish and yellowish brown; a black patch on wing.

Occurrence.—Transient. Several seen on Mono Lake, September 20, 1915.

The Baldpate or American Widgeon occurs with probable regularity, during both of the migration seasons, on the lakes at the eastern base of the Sierras. It is apt also to be found on the slower streams of the lower west slope.