326 University of California Publications in Zoology  |V0l- 24

In late August and September, when the salmon run was drawing
to a close, many gulls were seen along the rivers. None was collected,
but the birds observed were mostly of some species larger than
brachyrhynchus.

Mergus americanus Cassin. American Merganser

Breeding in Kispiox Valley; adults occasionally flushed from
streams and sloughs, and several broods of young encountered. On
June 28 a female with eleven ducklings appeared in the swift-flowing
ereek by our camp, the young still mostly down-covered.

Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus. Mallard

Breeding in Kispiox Valley. A nest with eggs was reported by an
acquaintance, found about the middle of June in a hayfield. We saw
single birds at various times during June and July. Toward the
end of August there was an influx of migrating ducks, a large propor-
tion of them mallards, and flocks of forty, fifty, or a hundred were
seen daily on gravel bars in the Kispiox River. Here the ducks were
feeding on salmon roe. Mallard and green-winged teal were the only
species present in numbers, and individuals of each of these shot from
time to time invariably contained salmon eggs im their gullets. The
humpback salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha), the species ‘running’
at that time, was present in myriads, and the ducks formed but a
fraction of the animals that were preying upon fish or eggs.

Two adult males partly in the eclipse plumage were shot on Sep-
tember 10, and one (no. 41988) was preserved. In this bird the
chestnut breast and gray underparts of the winter plumage are mostly
acquired, while of the eclipse plumage there remain the brown-
streaked head and neck, many brown feathers on back and flanks, and
the tail feathers. An adult male (no. 42638) taken at Okanagan
Landing, British Columbia, on October 1, is not nearly so far advanced
in the molt, having but a few seattered new feathers over various parts
of the head and body.

Mareca americana (Gmelin). Baldpate

One was shot on the Bulkley River at Hazelton, September 17.