IND IAN n rCKS A ND THEIR A L L lES. 237 



i)ro\vn, a dull Ijl;ic'ki?>h- brown .speouliiin edged by the outer secondaries 

 more or less tipped white, and with the secondary next; tlie speouluni 

 having the outer web broadly white. Innermost secondaries edged 

 with fulvous. Lower neck and breast reddish-biown, sometimes 

 speckled with darker ; lower breast, abdomen and vent varying from 

 white to uniform pale, rather bright rufous-bufF, the flanks and axillaries 

 darker and often more or less spotted brown. Under-tail coverts the 

 same as the abdomen but with the feathers centred dark. 



Bill slaty-blue, nail black, the base of the maxilla often darker, the 

 mandible with the commissure, base and often the tip darker and 

 nearly black. Irides from light dull to deep bright brown ; legs 

 grey or drab marked with dusky as in the male. 



" Length 17-b" to 19-25" ; expanse 81-5" to 34'0" ; wing 9-8" to 10-2"; 

 tail from vent 3-5" to 5" ; tarsus 1-4" to I'G" ; bill from gape I'G.S" to 

 1*8"; weight lib. ooz. to lib. lOoz. (Note that only one female 

 out of 27 weighed more than lib. Ooz.) " (Hume). 



Young Male. — Much like the female, l)ut the upper parts, especially 

 on the rump and upper tail coverts, more grey than brown, and soon 

 assuming the vermiculated appearance of the adult m:de ; white about 

 the speculum for more develojied, as is the speculum itself, and the 

 breast and fore neck are a richer brown. 



Male in the first nuptial state or cliamjing from the yovncf into advlt 

 stage. — Head rich brown, boldly spotted with black, less so below 

 upper back and adjoining parts as in the female but gradually changing 

 to grey on the lower back and rump, where it is beautifully vermiculated 

 and stippled with white ; upper tail coverts, scapulars and innermost 

 secondaries like the upper back, wing like the adult male btit the 

 s])ecnlum inconspicuous ; lower parts as in the female but with the 

 breast a very rich rufous contrasting both with fore neck and abdomen. 



Nestling. — " May be distinguished by the warm rufous tint of the 

 cheeks and throat and the alienee of any loval streak ; the upper parts 

 are, moreover, of an almost uniform brown, with hardly any signs of 

 bars on the pinions " (Yarrell). 



The Wigeon is found throughout Europe at different seasons, being 

 a permanent resident in some of the noi-therc countries ; jiractically 

 throughotit Asia, though rare to the East. Breeding in the North and 

 wintering iSouth ; in Northern Africa in the cold weather as far South 



