ANATID^. 



439 



THE AMERICAN WIGEON. 



Mareca AMERICANA (J. F. Gmelin). 



The occurrence of this bird in a London market during the 

 winter of 1837-8 was thus noticed by Blyth, in the third volume of 

 N. Wood's 'Naturalist,' p. 417: — "The American Wigeon is a 

 novelty which was obtained by Mr. Bartlett. He selected it from 

 a row of Common Wigeons, deeming it, at the time, to be only an 

 accidental variety of the species ; there was a female along with it, 

 which, after some hesitation, he unfortunately left, considering it 

 only as a variety, but insufficiently diverse to be worth preserving ; 

 he has since, however, positively recognized the female of the 

 American Wigeon to be identical with the bird he thus passed over 

 hesitatingly in the market." This specimen — a male— is now in the 

 collection of Mr. J- H. Gurney, and we may fairly assume that it 

 was really taken in this country. Thompson believed on hearsay 

 evidence that one, not preserved, was killed in February 1844 on 

 Strangford Lough near Belfast ; Thomas Edward, of Banff, has 

 enumerated, among his many unauthenticated rarities, another, shot 

 on the Burn of Boyndie in January 1841, but afterwards thrown 

 away ; while two records in ' The Zoologist ' are so utterly unsub- 

 stantiated as to be unworthy of serious consideration. In February 

 1895, however, Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey obtained in the flesh 

 a young male, which had been recently selected from a number of 



