Habits of the Wigeon. 363 



doubt it will be very shy in frequenting pastures during the 

 day ; and, of course, it will be compelled, contrary to its natural 

 habits, to seek for food throughout the night, in company with 

 its congeners. 



As the ordinary food of the wigeons is evidently grass, 

 perhaps there may not be a sufficient supply of it in those 

 high northern regions, whither the water fowl are supposed to 

 repair when they leave us in spring. Should this conjecture 

 prove well founded, we can account for the wigeon remaining 

 with us till the beginning of May, at which period all the 

 migratory water birds (saving a few teal, which are known to 

 breed in England) must be busily employed, far away from 

 us, in the essential work of incubation. 



Though we are quite ignorant of the manner and place in 

 which the wigeon makes its nest, and of the number and colour 

 of its eggs, still we are in possession of a clew to lead us to 

 the fact, that it hatches its young long after its congeners the 

 mallards have hatched theirs. The mallards return here, in 

 full plumage, early in the month of October ; but the wigeons 

 are observed to be in their mottled plumage as late as the end 

 of November. Again, as the old male wigeon returns to 

 these latitudes in mottled plumage, we may safely infer that 

 he undergoes the same process of a double moulting as the 

 mallard ; on which, perhaps, a paper hereafter. 



I offer to ornithologists, these few observations and specu- 

 lations on the economy of the wigeon, to be approved of, or 

 reproved, or improved, just as they may think fit. Every dis- 

 quisition, be it ever so short, will help a little to put the 

 science of ornithology upon a somewhat better footing than 

 that on which it stands at present. From reviews, which I 

 have lately read with more than ordinary attention ; and from 

 representations of birds, which I have lately examined very 

 closely, I pronounce ornithology to be at least half a century 

 behind the other sciences. I say nothing of the stuffing of 

 birds for cabinets of natural history. Were I to touch upon 

 the mode now 7 in general use, I should prove it to be a total 

 failure, devoid of every scientific principle; a mode that can 

 never, by any chance, restore the true form and features of 

 birds. 



But to return to the wigeon. I will just add, in conclusion, 

 that I penned down the remarks on its habits, after many very 

 close and often repeated inspections of the bird, during its 

 winter residence amongst us. I fear, however, that we must 

 be contented to remain in absolute ignorance of many im- 

 portant parts of its history, until some bold and hardy na- 



c c 2 



