402 ANATID^. 



the ordiuaiy male plumage begins to reappear ; the first 

 sign being the white patch on the head. 



The female Wigeon has the bill bluish-black ; the irides 

 brown ; head and neck brown tinged with rufous, and 

 speckled with dark brown ; the back varied with two shades 

 of brown, that in the centre of each feather the darkest in 

 colour, the paler brown on the margins tinged with rufous ; 

 quill and tail-feathers as in the male ; under surface of the 

 body nearly white. 



Under date of 10th February, 1885, Mr. Cecil Smith 

 writes to the Editor : — " My old hen Wigeon is now in 

 nearly full male plumage, except that the white patch on 

 the forehead has not yet developed itself; but she retains 

 her female voice, and is very jealous of the other females 

 who are not quite so old as she is." 



The young male birds of the year are, for a time, in 

 plumage resembling that of the females. 



The downy nestling of the Wigeon may be distinguished 

 by the warm rufous tint of the cheeks and throat, and the 

 absence of any loral streak ; the upper parts are, moreover, 

 of an almost uniform brown, with hardly any signs of light 

 bars on the pinions. 



The tube of the windpipe in the adult male Wigeon is 

 about six inches in length, and nearly equal in diameter 

 throughout ; the form of the bony enlargement and the 

 depending bronchial tubes as figured in the vignette below. 



