CHAPTER XXI 



THE WIGEON AND POCHARDS 



The Wigeon is a beautiful bird, and at the 

 present time' it visits the southern parts of England 

 in p-reat numbers. Colonel Montao-u states that at 

 the time he wrote, the Wigeon was taken in the 

 decoys in greater abundance than any other species 

 of duck. In the decoys of Somersetshire and Devon- 

 shire more Wigeon were caught than Duck, Teal, 

 and all other fowl put together. 



One of the most expert fowlers, having a fowling- 

 punt and gun of the day, and being moreover a 

 most observant naturalist, states in one of his works 

 on the subject, that what deer are to the deer-stalker 

 the Wigeon are to the fowler. These birds are 

 grass-feeders, feeding on both meadow and sea-grass 

 by day when the chance offers, and at night when 

 circumstances compel them to do so, being able like 

 other creatures to adapt themselves to their sur- 

 roundinofs. One sketch of the Wio-eon's favourite 

 feeding-flats let me give. 



The tide has gone out, leaving a wide mid-channel 



of deep water, which at its narrowest part is more than 



a mile in width. On my side lies a mile and a half 



262 



