22 INDIAN SPORTING BIRDS 



liyer, and an inveterate fighter; this it has to be if it must live 

 along w^ith the Andaman strain of the small whistler, which, 

 judging from a pair we had in the Calcutta Zoo, is even more 

 peppery in character than the mainland birds, from which these 

 were distinguishable by their smaller size and richer colour. Like 

 the whistling teal, also, it breeds either in trees or on the ground, 

 the eggs being cream-coloured ; the tree site for the nest is the 

 common one, and it is placed in a hole. It is, however, a true 

 teal in general characters, though large for such a bird, weighing 

 about a pound ; also, though the sexes are alike in colour, it 

 has the usual sex difference m note found in the teal, the drake 

 whistling and the duck quacking. It is a very active runner, and 

 also flies sharply though noiselessly ; during the day it perches 

 most of the time, feeding at night in ponds or in the morning 

 and evening in paddy fields, but is also found in salt water. 



Wigcon. 



Mareca penelope. Peasan, Hindustani. 



There seems to be a prevailing idea among people whose 

 knowledge of ducks is limited that any sort smaller than a 

 mallard and yet obviously too big to be a teal, must be a wigeon ; 

 but the real bird, which has only two near allies, both American, 

 is quite unmistakable, owing to its small, inch-long, narrow bill, 

 which is blue-grey with a black tip, and its unusually long and 

 narrow wings ; the belly is also conspicuously white in both sexes. 

 In weight it is indeed intermediate between the full-sized ducks 

 and the teal, weighing about a pound and a half. 



The wigeon drake is very handsome, his chestnut head with 

 yellow forehead contrasting well with his salmon breast and grey 

 back ; a large white patch on the wing is very conspicuous in 

 ilight. The female's brown plumage is less conspicuously mottled 

 than that of other brown ducks of her sex, but the points above 

 given will distinguish her easily. The male, in undress is similar, 

 but much redder brown as a rule ; his white and green marking 

 on the wing will distinguish him in this stage. 



The sexes differ strikingly in voice as well as in plumage, for 

 the drake utters what Hume well calls "a whistled cry," pre- 



