WIGEON. 39 



swimming, but her rufous head, well-marked back, and white 

 under parts separate her from the much larger Mallards and 

 the smaller Teal, her frequent companions on inland waters. 

 When the birds rise, white shows distinctly on the wnng of 

 either sex ; on the drake it is a great oblong patch, 32 by 2 

 inches, formed by the black-tipped greater wing-coverts, on the 

 duck a conspicuous double bar. 



A few Wigeon reach our shores and inland waters in August, 

 but they are seldom numerous until mid-October. Though 

 often abundant on meres and lakes at some distance from 

 the coast, the Wigeon is a salt-water duck ; in muddy and 

 sandy bays and inlets it feeds in thousands, and floats off-shore 

 in great packs and lines, looking from the land like undulating 

 collections of floating wrack as the birds rise and fall on the 

 waves. Even in a rough sea they sleep peacefully, and where 

 their feeding grounds are liable to be disturbed they spend the 

 day at sea, flighting inward at dusk. Although on the banks 

 the bird picks up molluscs, crustaceans and marine worms, its 

 main food is the sea-grass, Zostera^ which grows in profusion 

 on tidal flats. Whether the Wigeon is normally a diurnal or 

 nocturnal feeder is a disputed point, but certainly when un- 

 molested it will feed by day, and its times are to some extent 

 regulated by the tides. The weed is dragged up by the roots, 

 the bird swimming or wading in shallow water and only 

 dipping the head and neck ; it seldom feeds in the vertical 

 reversed position common to most surface-feeders. Some 

 observers state that it never dives for food, others have seen 

 it do so ; it will, however, like most ducks, dive and splash 

 in play, and a wounded " cripple " dives with great activity. 

 Grain it will eat ; I have found a considerable quantity in 

 birds that had been shot at sea, proving that they make 

 occasional excursions to the fields, and Mr. Dockray has found 

 them in autumn crammed with blackberries which they had 

 doubtless gathered on the edge of ponds and ditches. 



