350 BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 



ground colour, spotted and speckled with ash-grey, 

 greenish-brown, and umber-brown. The markings 

 generally form a belt round the larger end. Size 

 about -66 by *52 in. Distinguished by small size, 

 clean ground colour, and bold belt-inclining spots. 



Time. May, June, and July. 



r Remarks. Migratory, arriving in April and 

 leaving in September. Notes: call, check, repeated 

 several times, and an incessant chattering, some- 

 times loud and grating, at others low and not 

 unpleasant. Local or other names : none. Sits 

 closely. 



WIGEON. 



Description of Parent Birds. Length about 

 eighteen inches ; bill rather short, narrow, highish 

 at the base, and bluish-grey, tipped with black. 

 Irides dark brown. Forehead and crown cream 

 colour ; rest of head and upper part of neck rich 

 bay, almost black on the chin and throat. A streak 

 of green passes backward from the eye, and the 

 cheeks and neck are minutely spotted with blackish- 

 green ; back and scapulars greyish- white, barred 

 with fine irregular lines of black ; wing-coverts 

 white, tipped with black ; outer webs of secondaries 

 green, tipped with black; tertials or inner secondaries 

 black on the outer webs, which are broadly margined 

 with white ; primaries dusky brown ; upper tail- 

 coverts freckled with grey ; tail feathers long, wedge- 

 shaped, and dusky-black, mixed with grey and 

 brown; lower part of the neck and shoulders pale 

 red ; breast, belly, and vent white ; sides and flanks 

 marked with fine undulating lines of black ; under 

 tail-coverts rich black ; legs, toes, and webs dark 

 brown. 



