AMERICAN WIGEON. 4 1 



lavender-grey, the legs olive-grey with darker webs, and the 

 irides brown. The head of the duck is pale rufous spotted with 

 black, and her chin is pale ; her upper parts generally are 

 brown barred with buff; her wings, smoke-grey on the shoulder, 

 have the greater coverts drab, edged with buff and white, and a 

 white border to the green speculum. The flanks are rufous, the 

 belly white. The slate-grey bill is darker than that of the 

 drake. Other characters of the plumage are already described. 

 In eclipse in summer the drake is more rufous than the duck, 

 but he loses most of his masculine characters. Immature 

 males are at first very like the duck in winter, but by November 

 and December they are in very intermediate dress, brown and 

 vermiculated grey feathers mingled on back and flanks, and 

 the black chin almost concealed by umber tips ; the bill was 

 lighter in some birds I examined than in the adult, though 

 that of the duck is darker. Length, 18*5 ins. Wing, 10 ins. 

 Tarsus, 175 ins. 



American Wigeon. Mareca americana (Gmel.). 



The American Wigeon, which nests in Canada and the 

 northern States, and winters so far south as the West Indies, 

 has wandered three or four times to Great Britain and Fiance ; 

 it has been recorded from the Azores. Some records of its 

 occurrence are questioned, and now that the bird is kept on 

 private waters and breeds, the young being allowed freedom, 

 any occurrence may be due to introduction. 



The most marked differences between this bird and the 

 Wigeon are on the head of the drake. The central crest is 

 yellowish white, and below it is a dull green stripe from the eye 

 to the nape ; under this again the whitish face and throat are 

 speckled with black. The rest of the plumage corresponds in 

 pattern, but is browner and more vinaceous. The head of the 

 duck is yellowish white speckled with black. The bill is 



