EUROPEAN WIDGEON. 



A WELL-KNOWN and common species of the Old 

 World, this handsome Duck can only be regarded 

 as a straggler within our limits. It has been killed on 

 numerous occasions in different parts of the United States, 

 usually in the company of the American Widgeon. It is 

 not uncommon among the Aleutian Islands and breeds 

 there, and doubtless individuals starting on the fall mi- 

 gration have taken the wrong course inadvertently, or 

 else have joined flocks of American Wild Fowl and pene- 

 trated into unaccustomed lands, and embraced an oppor- 

 tunity to look upon unfamiliar scenes. In its habits it 

 does not vary to any appreciable extent from its Ameri- 

 can relative, and its life history has been thoroughly writ- 

 ten by a number of able English and Continental orni- 

 thologists. While having a general resemblance to the 

 Bald-Pate (to anyone who was not accustomed to observe 

 closely), it is in fact a very differently marked bird, and 

 while of very attractive appearance is not as handsome 

 as our own species. Numerous specimens have been ob- 

 tained in California, and I had a beautiful and very per- 

 fect male which was shot in Illinois, and is now with 

 my collection of birds in the Museum of Natural History 

 in New York. I have also seen examples procured on 

 the North Carolina coast, so it would seem that when it 

 strays from its legitimate route, it has no preference as to 

 the road it travels, but visits indiscriminately any por- 

 tions of the country to which fate may lead it. 



