THE GAME -DUCKS. 179 



No doubt this change in their daily life is, to some extent, 

 influenced by the greater amount of disturbance and perse- 

 cution they undergo in our islands ; but that this persecution 

 is not the sole factor in producing the change is shown by the 

 fact that their procedure is exactly the same in countries where 

 they are but little or never disturbed at all. The writer has 

 had opportunities of observing these ducks in various parts of 

 the Spanish Peninsula, where their habits proved very simi- 

 lar to those noticed at home. Thus, on some of the large 

 estuaries of North Portugal, where the natives had not then 

 (at the time of my visit) thought of practising flight-shooting 

 by night, the Wigeon for some weeks after their arrival spent 

 the day on the grassy islands and sand-banks in the river. 

 But by the middle of November they habitually went out to 

 sea at the dawn. The only observable difierence in their 

 habits was the earliness and extreme regularity with which 

 they flighted at dusk, owing to the accustomed absence of 

 danger. Night after night they would appear within two 

 minutes of the same hour — just before daylight had quite 

 disappeared — and by my watch I could always time myself 

 to leave the snipe-grounds and be in position for flight, with 

 the certainty of having only a few minutes to wait for their 

 appearance. 



To return to our own coast, it is far from certain, even 

 when one has the good luck, in winter, to fall in with a 

 flight of Wigeon still lingering about the oozes during the 

 day, that a shot will result. On the contrary, Wigeon are 

 so much more suspicious of a gunning-punt than the Mal- 

 lard, that, especially in mild, open weather, they will rarely 

 permit of approach within any reasonable range. Wigeon, 

 under such circumstances, begin to take notice of the pres- 

 ence of a punt as far away as 500 or 600 yards, and, as a 

 precautionary measure, will paddle off into deep water ; then, 

 if pursued thither, will rise at perhaps 300 yards, and make 

 straight for the open sea. In severe and frosty weather they 

 are naturally less alert, and a shot may occasionally be ob- 

 tained in daylight, though they are always a " kittlish " sort 

 of fowl, and it is wise to fire as soon as ever a reasonable 

 range has been obtained. 



N 2 



