The Widgeon 



ALTHOUGH this beautiful duck is very 

 L abundant on our coast and inland 

 lakes during the autumn and spring, few 

 pairs stay to breed with us, and those gener- 

 ally in the extreme north of Scotland and the 

 Orkney and Shetland Islands. Its real home 

 is in the Arctic regions, where it nests com- 

 monly from Iceland to Eastern Siberia. 



Once you have heard the Widgeon's shrill 

 double call-note, you are never likely to for- 

 get it. It consists of a long musical un-duck- 

 like whistle, followed by a short low one, and 

 sounds like " mee-yu." If you should hear it 

 for the first time whilst you are alone in the 

 dark, near some solitary sheet of water, you 

 will no doubt think it a very wild and weird 

 cry. 



Unlike many other members of the duck 

 family, this bird feeds by day instead of 

 by night. Its principal food is grass, and 

 apparently in recognition of this fact the 



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