WIDGEON 



Mareca penelope. 19 in. 



Crown buffy; head reddish brown; wing coverts white; 

 speculum green. Female with blackish speculum, and a 

 pale, rusty head, neck, breast and sides, streaked or 

 barred with blackish. The Widgeon is an Old World 

 duck that rarely, and accidentally, strays to our At- 

 lantic or Pacific coasts. It breeds in America only in 

 the Aleutian Islands. Its habits are the same as the 

 next species, our American Widgeon. 



In the Old World it is regarded as one of the best 

 of table ducks. Its food consists of marine and fresh- 

 water insects, small shell-fish, seaweed and grass. Its 

 nidification is just like that of the Baldpate. 



