OCT. PEEWITS PLOVER WIDGEON. 21 



The golden-eye duck and the morillon also are 

 frequently seen diving for shell-fish and weed in 

 the deep quiet pools, but never fishing in the 

 shallow parts of the river like the goosander. 



The peewits do not leave us till quite the end of 

 October, and during most of the month are in im- 

 mense numbers on the sands near the mouth of the 

 river. In the dusk of the evening they as well as 

 the golden plover leave the sands, and take to the 

 fields in search of worms and snails, generally fre- 

 quenting the ploughed land or the grass-fields. As 

 I pass along the shore of the bay, large flocks of 

 widgeon fly to and fro as the ebb-tide leaves un- 

 covered the small grassy island and banks. Unlike 

 the mallard and teal, both which are night-feeding 

 birds, the widgeon feeds at any hour of the day or 

 night indiscriminately, not waiting for the dusk to 

 commence their search for food, but grazing like 

 geese on the grass whenever they can get at it. 

 Although towards the end of winter the shyest of 

 all water-fowl, the widgeon, at thia^ season, owing 

 to their not having been persecuted and fired at, 

 may be easily approached, and with a little care 

 may be closely watched^ as they swim to and fro 

 from bank to bank; sometimes landing, and at other 

 times cropping the grass as they swim along the 

 edge. If a pair of mallards is amongst the flock, 



