246 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS 



October (occasionally as early as the middle of 

 September), increasing in numbers until the middle 

 of November, by which date there are as many 

 probably as will be seen during the winter. (See 

 Chapman, Zool., 1887, p. 4.) They then afford 

 almost unlimited sport to the wildfowler both 

 ashore and afloat, the greatest number being killed 

 by the punt-shooters on such parts of the coast 

 as afford shallow water over mud flats, on which 

 the favourite food plant Zoster a marina grows 

 abundantly. 



A large flock of Wigeon is termed by fowlers a 

 company, a smaller number they call a hunch. A 

 comjmny of Wigeon when first collecting may be 

 heard at a considerable distance by the whistling of 

 the drakes and purring of the ducks, but when 

 quietly settled down and busy feeding, the only 

 sound heard arises from the motion of their bills, 

 which is similar to that of tame ducks. They leave 

 us about the end of February or beginning of March, 

 although on the large inland pools of fresh water, 

 where they are but little disturbed, a few may linger 

 on till April. In exceptional cases nests and eggs 

 of the Wigeon have been reported to have been 

 found in England, as in Yorkshire (Clarke and Roe- 

 buck, p. 56 ; Knoivledge, Feb. 1, 1898, with photo- 

 graph of nest and eggs), Cheshire (Ihis, 1865, p. 

 444), Norfolk (Stevenson, iii. p. 188), and Sussex 

 (Borrer, p. 350), but the identity of the species 

 has not in all cases been satisfactorily established. 

 A hybrid brood resulting from a cross between 



