498 BiRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 
presumes to approach his duck too closely. The one 
in my pond has a terrible time of it throughout the 
spring, endeavouring to keep off the Mallards, who 
constantly make advances to his duck, especially 
when their own ducks are sitting. 
The nest of a Wigeon which was found by Mr. 
Selby, on one of the islands in a lake in Scotland, 
““was placed in the heart of a large rush-bush, and 
was made of decayed rushes and reeds, with a lining 
of warm down from the bird’s body.” 
The food of the present species consists almost 
entirely of grass, which, to judge by the tame ones, 
it eats most greedily, as these spend nearly the 
whole of the day in cropping the short grass on the 
lawn. Meyer adds aquatic insects and larvee, worms - 
and small Mollusca, rarely the small fry of fish and 
frogs: he also says it occasionally eats grain, but 
that it is no favourite food of the Wigeons, which 
seems certainly to be the case: I have known my 
tame ones reduced to eat grain with the other wild 
fowl during deep snow, when they could get no grass, 
but at other times they do not appear to care at all 
about it. 
The Wigeon is a fine showy bird, and certainly a 
great ornament on a pond. The drake has the beak 
bluish lead-colour, tipped with black; irides dark 
brown; forehead and top of the head white, very 
shghtly tinged with buff; the whole of the face, back 
of the head, and neck all round, rich chesnut, slightly 
