DUCKS 245 



broods in June both on Lough Mask and Lough 

 Corrib, Co. Galway. This testimony, however, is 

 considerably discounted by Mr. Ussher in his recently 

 published "Birds of Ireland," p. 196. 



The weight of a Pintail drake is 2 lbs. 8 oz. to 2 

 lbs. 12 oz.; the duck, 2 lbs. 



WIGEON. Anas penelope, Linnaeus. PI. 28, figs. 10, 11. 

 •^ Length, 18 in. ; bill, 1*5 in. ; wing, 10'5 in. ; tarsus, 



1"5 in. 



As to the etymology of the name " Wigeon," 

 see ZooL, 1882, p. 110. Professor Skeat has shown 

 (Notes and Queries, 6th ser. v. p. 113) that the 

 spelling "Wigion" is to be found as early as 1570 

 in Levin's Manipulus Vocahulorum, and that the 

 insertion of the d in the word has no more 

 etymological significance than it has in judge from 

 the French juge. Hence there can be no doubt that 

 if we spell "Pigeon" without a d, we must spell 

 "Wigeon" by the same analogy, and "Widgeon" 

 with a d must be regarded as a violation of 

 established laws. 



Best known as a winter visitant, and at that 

 season, next to the Brent Goose, one of the com- 

 monest of British wildfowl. 



Although a good many pairs may be found nest- 

 ing in the North of Scotland, as in Sutherland and 

 Caithness, Ross and Cromarty, and fewer in Ireland, 

 the greater number retire to breed in Iceland, 

 Lapland, and countries farther to the eastward. 

 Small flocks begin to arrive on our east coast in 



