40 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



i 

 The Wigeon i^ perfectly at home on land, walking with ease 



and running swiftly ; the drakes race after one another, open- 

 mouthed, on the grass or sand. On the wing it is quicker than 

 the Mallard, though hardly so swift as the Teal. A flock will 

 turn and twist in flight, but the evolutions are less erratic than 

 those of the last-named bird. The call of the drake, from 

 which the bird gets its name, and the fowler's names — " Whew- 

 duck" and "Whistler," is a long musical whistle, ivhcc-oo. 

 Throughout the winter this call is constantly uttered ; the 

 bill is opened wide when the bird calls. The contented 

 purring note of the duck is very different from her quack of 

 alarm, a harsh growling kraak, kraak, for Saunders was in 

 error when he said that "the birds rise in silence.'' During 

 courtship, when the drake is most musical, his neck is carried 

 stiffly erect, and he frequently sits up in the water to flap 

 his wings, advertising the glory of his white patch. 



The majority depart north at the end of February or early in 

 March, but passage flocks are met with in April and May, and 

 I have seen them on Cheshire waters in early June. Some, at 

 any rate, of our home-bred birds emigrate ; out of a brood 

 marked in June in Sutherland one bird was recovered in 

 September in Holland, though another was taken in Lincoln- 

 shire in the following January. 



The nest, built in grass, heather, or other herbage, is seldom 

 far from water ; the down is dark with pale centres. The eggs, 

 six to ten, are creamy white, similar to but lighter and a little 

 larger than those of the Shoveler ; they are laid from April to 

 June. The duckling in down is almost uniform brown above 

 with rufous cheeks and neck, and lacks the distinctive eye 

 streak of the infant Mallard and Teal. 



On the brown face of the adult drake in winter are flecks of 

 metallic green and a mark of the same colour crosses above 

 the eye; the chin is black. The speculum on the wing is 

 velvety black and bottle-green, bordered by black. The bill is 



