The American Widgeon, or Bald-Pate

I have shot widgeons successfully over decoys with no other cover than a few dead weeds or a little brush in front of me, picking out a slight depression on the bank of a large pond or inland lake and also on a river in the same manner.

They make a great whistling and calling when they come into a lake. They also give their call often while floating on the water, especially if they see other ducks approaching.

The widgeon is fairly abundant in all the Middle and Western States both in the Spring and Fall. They decoy very readily and their most peculiar whistle can be heard for some distance.

I have seen them in quite large numbers in the Spring flying up the river, alighting in the main channel and floating down with the current and then repeating the process. In this way they feed on floating buds of trees, etc.

Many times large flocks are found feeding in the eddies back of some point on the river. Long says he has seen them in flocks of thousands late in the fall on the lakes of Tennessee and the bayous of the Mississippi.

The widgeon frequents Chesapeake Bay and the waters of the shallow sounds of the South, and it is a tradition that they are always to be found where canvasbacks are feeding and that they rob the canvasbacks of wild celery which they are unable to dive for and bring up themselves.

I cannot imagine a widgeon fighting very much with a canvasback and have never seen them do so on inland waters.

The widgeon is one of the most palatable birds of the duck family and I have always found them most excellent as food.

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