WIGEON 239 



their way ; but after such a diet the flesh is poor. But as a table- 

 fowl wigeon are disappointing, save when they have been feeding for 

 a time in fresh water, when they are scarcely if at all inferior to mallard 

 and teal. 



That the wigeon for choice prefers salt water is shown by the fact 

 that among the surface-feeding species they are the most numerous 

 on our coasts. Sir Ralph Payne Gallwey remarks on this head that 

 out of 1500 duck and geese he once killed off the west coast of 

 Ireland, 1200 were wigeon ; and again, out of a bag of 500 duck 

 obtained in ten days in the winter of 1883, 400 were of this species. 

 And by way of confirming this estimate, he points out that of 

 90,000 duck taken during a period of thirty-five years from the cele- 

 brated Ashly decoy in Lincolnshire, only 2000 were wigeon. These 

 decoys in the past and many are unhappily still at work have 

 wrought an appalling total of destruction, as may be gathered from 

 records of the celebrated Steeple decoy in Canny Marsh, Essex. In 

 the twelve years between 1714-1726, no less than 44,677 wigeon were 

 taken, the "best" year being that of 1714, when 6296 wigeon were 

 taken, 347 teal, 675 mallard, and 46 pintail ! And here it is interest- 

 ing to note that a couple of hundred years ago the great hauls were 

 made in the early autumn, not during January, February, and March 

 as now. 



Some idea of the vast numbers which in times past, at any rate, 

 used to resort to the Irish bays and estuaries during the winter 

 months may be gathered from Sir Ralph Payne Gallwey's Fowler in 

 Ireland, pp. 36-48, where he describes how they sit in dense com- 

 panies, and when they take flight they move in dark sweeping clouds, 

 with a roar of wings as they rise, or pitch, which may be heard a 

 mile off. 



So far as the evidence goes, it would seem to show that the 

 wigeon, like its congeners, by choice feeds by day, but after a little 

 persecution it speedily changes its habits, and feeds only during the 

 hours of darkness. 



