494 BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 



At the end of the spring and beginning of 

 summer the male retires to some solitary swamp, 

 and casts off his gay dress and assumes a sombre 

 one, which he continues to wear until the autumn. 



Situation and Locality. On the ground, generally 

 amongst fairly tall heather, in a clump of rushes, 

 or amongst coarse grass, flags, reeds, and under 

 dwarf bushes, cleverly concealed, in the neighbour- 



NEWLY-HATCHED WIGEON IN NEST. 



hood of lochs, swamps, tarns, or rivers, where the 

 ground is rough and affording shelter ; in suitable 

 parts of the north of Scotland, the Orkneys and 

 Shetlands, and probably in one or two parts of 

 Ireland, although no nest of the species had been 

 found up to the commencement of the twentieth 

 century. 



Materials. Reeds, decayed rushes, leaves, and 

 dry grass, with an inner lining of down from the 

 bird's own body. The tufts are dark sooty-brown, 

 with conspicuous white tips. 



Eggs. Six to twelve, generally seven or eight ; 

 creamy white, somewhat like those of the Gadwall. 

 The locality of the nest, and the character of the 



