458 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS 



semi-domestication. It is probable that this has 

 been the case with other specimens, which, on being 

 found at large, were supposed, in consequence, to 

 have been truly wild. But in 1892, a year of great 

 drought in Southern and South-Eastern Europe, 

 these birds appeared in such numbers in different 

 parts of the British Isles as to favour the presump- 

 tion of a genuine immigration. The statistics were 

 collected and published by Mr. F. M. Ogilvie, ZooL, 

 1892, pp. 392-398. 



AMERICAN WIGEON. Anas americana, Gmelin. 

 Length, 20 in.; bill, 1-3 in.; wing, 10-25 in.; tarsus, 

 1-5 in. 



Hah. North America ; breeding in Alaska and British 

 America as far north as lat. 70° ; occasionally in Northern 

 United States, and wintering in the Southern States, West 

 Indies, and Mexico. 



One, Leadenhall Market, Avinter 1837-38: Blyth, Nat., 



vol. iii. p. 4-17 ; Yarrell, " Hist. Brit. Birds," 3rd ed., 



vol. iii. p. 293 ; Gurney, Zool, 1864, p. 9024. A male, 



in the collection of Mr. Gurney. 

 One, Burn of Boyndie, Banffshire, Jan. 1841 : Edward, 



Zool., 1860, p. 6870. Doubtful ; bird not preserved. 

 One, Strangford Lough, Feb. 1844: Thompson, "Nat. 



Hist. Irel. (Birds)," vol. iii. p. 112. Not seen by 



Thompson ; only described to him. 

 Others, Belfast Bay : Thompson, ojh cit. 

 One, Essex coast, Jan. 1864: S. H. Carter, Zool., 1864, 



p. 8962. A female bird ; very doubtful. 

 One on the Taw, near Barnstaple, April 20, 1890 : Mathew, 



ZooL, 1870, p. 2182. Proved to be a variety of the 



common Wigeon. See D'LTrban and Mathew, "Birds 



of Devon," p. 223. 



