88 BULLETIN 126, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



rect flight, taking wing easily from the water, and producing a whistling sound as they 

 fly. They are much addicted to garrulity, and at night especiallj' emit a whistling 

 cry, on account of which they have obtained the name of " whew-ducks." 



Evidently the field marks of the widgeon are the same as those of 

 our baldpate, but the two species can be readily distinguished by 

 the reddish head of the adult male and the general ruddy tinge of 

 plumage in the female and young male of the European bird; also 

 the axillars in the baldpate are pure white in both sexes, whereas in 

 the European bird they are freckled or clouded with gray. 



Mr. Millais (1902) says: 



The call of the male widgeon is a loud " whee-ou," a note both wild and musical, 

 and dear to the heart of every gunner that has wandered on the coasts; it also makes 

 a very peculiar " cheeping " note (rather like the call of the twite) when frightened. 

 The female also has two calls, both somewhat similar yet quite distinct, both a sort 

 of throaty croak one being used to attract the attention of others of her species; the 

 other, somewhat harsher, is emitted in moments of fear. 



Fall. — By the middle of August the old females and young begin to join together, 

 and are generally the first to commence the southern migration. These are then fol- 

 lowed, in September, by the stragglers and males with brown shoulders molting into 

 white, and adult males still in nearly complete eclipse but showing the first signs of 

 winter plumage in the upper scapulars. When all the males arrive they mix indis- 

 criminately with other widgeon, and so the addition to the ranks is swelled gradually 

 until November, when the large winter packs are formed. 



Widgeon are more or less marine in their habits, and after arriving on our coasts, 

 in September, they increase in numbers until December, when great packs are some- 

 times formed in estuaries suited to their tastes. They are the mainstay of the pro- 

 fessional punt gunner, being numerous and always a marketable commodity, and it 

 is interesting to note the appreciable change in the habits of the birds due to this 

 enemy. By nature the widgeon is not necessarily a purely nocturnal feeder. In his 

 summer home, where he is subject to little molestation, he feeds regularly in the early 

 morning and late evening, resting only during the warm hours in the middle of the 

 day. Now notice what happens when he arrives on the British coasts. At first the 

 small packs continue to feed in daylight, as during summer, but a couple of raking 

 shots in their midst, carrying death and destruction, tell them that this is too dan- 

 gerous, so they become purely nocturnal feeders for the remainder of the season, and 

 rest or fly about by day well out iu the firths or open sea, according to the proportion 

 of harassment. Where widgeon have been kept continually on the move; that is, 

 after a series of gales sweeping over their resting grounds, as well as when several shots 

 have been fired at them on the mud flats, they sometimes assemble in immense flocks, 

 either on the principle of mutual protection or tliat "misery loves company". I 

 have on more than one occasion seen the entire stock of widgeon frequenting a certain 

 firth merged into one great gathering, which could not have contained less than five 

 to seven thousand birds. 



DISTRIBUTION. 



Breeding range. — Northern parts of the Eastern Hemisphere. Ice- 

 land, the Faroes, Shetland and Orkney Islands, Scotland, and north- 

 ern England. North in Europe and Asia to 70° N.; east to Kam- 

 chatka and perhaps to the Aleutian Islands. 



Winter range. — The British Isles, the whole of southern Europe and 

 northern Africa, south to Abyssinia ; also southern Asia, to southern 

 Japan. 



