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WIDGEON. 



Anas penelope. 



Char. Adult male : mantle white, marked with fine lines of dark 

 gray; shoulders white, followed by bar of black; wing-patch green; 

 longer wing-feathers and tail dark brown ; head and neck chestnut, shad- 

 ing to buff on the forehead and to black on the throat ; breast gray, tinged 

 with rufous and shading to white below, which extends across the belly; 

 sides marked with fine lines of dark gray; under tail-coverts black; bill 

 slate blue, tipped with black ; legs and feet dusky lead color. Soon after 

 the mating season the male assumes plumage similar to the female. 

 Female: upper parts grayish brown, — the feathers with paler margins ; 

 under parts white, the breast buffish brown ; under tail-coverts barred 

 with brown; wing-patch grayish brown. Length i8 inches. 



Nest. Concealed amid rank herbage or under a bush, on the margin of 

 a lake ; a deep bowl made of sedges and lined with grass and down. 



Eggs. 7-12 (usually about 10) ; rich cream color or buff; average size 

 2.20 X 1.50. 



Though generally set down in the books as a bird of the Old 

 World, the Widgeon has been known to occur on this western 

 shore of the Atlantic much too often to be omitted from the pres- 

 ent connection. The bird breeds on Iceland, and probably occurs 

 regularly in Greenland, though in small numbers ; and every ye^ 



