192 THE WIGEON 
the tribe. In some parts they repair to salt marshes and the sea- 
shore, where they share the fate of the Wild Duck. 
Willughby tells us that in his time the Teal and Wigeon, considered 
as marketable goods, were classed together as ‘ half-fowl’, their 
value being only half that of the Wild Duck. In the fen counties 
they are still ranked together as ‘ Half Ducks’, and for the same 
reason. 
The Teal has two notes, one a kind of quack, the other, uttered 
by the male only during winter, which has been compared to the 
whistle of the Plover. Its food consists of water insects, molluscs, 
worms, and the seeds of grass and sedge. It is widely distributed 
in Scotland. 
THE GARGANEY 
QUERQUEDULA CIRCIA 
Crown dusky ; over the eye a white band extending down the neck; throat 
black ; neck chestnut-brown streaked with white ; breast pale yellowish 
brown, with crescent-shaped black bars; back mottled with dusky grey 
and brown; speculum greyish green bordered above and below with 
white; bill dark brown; irides brown; feet grey. Length sixteen 
inches. Eggs buff. 
Tuts elegant little bird visits us in March and April, being at that 
time, it is supposed, on its way to the south. Though not among 
the rarest of the tribe, it is now of unusual occurrence, but was 
formerly so regular a visitor in the eastern counties, that it acquired 
the provincial name of ‘Summer Teal’. Young birds are 
commonly seen on the Broads of Norfolk in July and August, dis- 
tinguishable from young Teal by the lighter colour of their plumage, 
more slender habit, and greater length of neck. The nests are built 
among the thickest reed beds, and owing now to protection their 
numbers are increasing. In Ireland it is the rarest of the well- 
known ducks. 
THE WIGEON 
MARECA PENELOPE 
Male—head and upper part of the neck chestnut, the cheeks and crown 
speckled with black; a broad cream-coloured band extending from the 
bill to the crown ; throat nearly black ; a narrow collar of white and black 
wavy lines extending over the back and flanks ; lower part of the neck and 
sides of the breast chocolate colour; scapulars velvet-black edged with 
white ; wing-coverts white; quills ash-brown; speculum glossy green, 
with a black band above and below; tail wedge-shaped, two middle 
feathers pointed, and the longest, dusky ash; under tail-coverts black ; 
bill bluish grey, the tip black ; irides hazel; feet dusky grey. Female— 
head and neck reddish brown, speckled with dusky ; back and scapulars 
dusky brown, the feathers edged with rusty red; wing-coverts brown, 
edged with whitish ; speculum without the green gloss; flanks reddish 
brown. Length twenty inches. Eggs brownish white. 
THE name Whew Duck, or Whewer, by which, this bird is 
