AMERICAN VvIDGEON. 



(^9nas americana, Gmel. Lath. iii. 520. Wilson, viii.p. 8G. pi. G9. 



fig 4. BoNAP. Syn. No, 3'2G. Richard. North. Zool. ii. p. 445. 



American Widgeon, Pexn. Arct. Zool. ii. No. 502. Mareca 



americana, Stephens, Gen. Zool. xii. p. 135. Le Canard Jensen 



de la Louisiane, Buff. PI. Enlum 055. Pliil. Museum. No. 



279S.) 

 Sp. Charact. — Speculum green, surrounded with black; wing 



coverts white; tail wedge-shaped, of 14 feathers. — Male, brown- 

 ish-red, waved with blackish ; with a white band from the front 

 to the nape, bounded posteriori}' by a broad patch of green ; the 

 breast nearly chestnut : throat whitish. Female dark brown and 

 mottled ; no green on the head, which is paler. 



This species, so nearly allied to the European Widgeon, 

 has not been found in the old continent, yet it retires north 

 to breed, inhabiting in summer the woody districts of the 

 remote fur countries, near the Saskatchewan and the coasts 

 of Hudson's Bay, as far as the 68th degree of northern lati- 

 tude. In autumn and winter they are seen common in 

 33* 



