. MARECA. 123 



[Genus -ffiX, Boie, Isis, 1828, p. 329. 



MX = ai%, a water-bird, probably some kind of G-oose, mentioned by Aris- 

 totle; said to be the same word as ai = a goat, from diaaw = I dart or spring, 

 from the root of ayw = I drive, "agile." 



sponsa. SUMMER DUCK. 

 Anas Sponsa, Linnceus, S. N. i. p. 207 (1766). 

 Aix sponsa, Gray, p. 196. 



Sponsa = a bride, from its gay plumage. 



A common North-American species frequently kept on 

 ornamental waters; every specimen reported as killed in 

 Britain has almost certainly escaped from confinement.] 



Genus MARECA, Stephens in Shaw's Gen. Zool. xii. 

 pt. 2, p. 130 (1824). 



Mareca, the native name, according to Marcgrare, of the Brazilian Teal 



Mareca penelope. WIGEON. 



Anas Penelope, Linnceus, S. N. i. p. 202 (1766). 



Mareca penelope, Macg. v. p. 83 ; Gray, p. 191 ; Gould, v. 



pi. 13; Dresser, vi. p. 541. 

 Anas penelope, Naum. xi. p. 724; Hewitson, p. 412; Yarr. 



ed. 2, iii. p. 286 ; id. ed. 3, iii. p. 287 ; Harting, p. 62. 

 The Wigeon, Yarr. ed. 1, iii. p. 190. 



Penelope ; irr]ve\ofy = a kind of Duck with purple stripes, in classical Greek, 

 which was said to have fed Penelope, subsequently the wife of Ulysses, after her 

 parents had thrown her into the sea ; from Trrjvr) = woof, *TrrjveXr] + ityis = 

 sight, " braided-looking." 



The Wigeon breeds in the north of Scotland, and is 

 abundant during winter throughout the rest of the United 

 Kingdom. It occurs generally in the Palaearctic Region, 

 and sparingly in the Nearctic. 



