WIGEON. 187 



weather Holkham Lake is a sight to gladden the eyes of 

 a naturalist. Hundreds, I may say thousands, of wigeon, 

 mallard, teal, pochards, tufted ducks, with a few goos- 

 anders, smews, and golden-eyes, make the picture perfect. 

 Lord Leicester has given strict orders that they are 

 never to be disturbed, especially in severe weather ; thus 

 they have at all times a secure retreat." 



On the 12th March, 1889, Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., 

 and myself, under the guidance of Mr. Napier, had an 

 opportunity of seeing the fowl on the lake. There were 

 a large number of mallards, some teals, tufted ducks, 

 golden-eyes, and shovelers ; but by far the greater 

 number were wigeons, which appeared to keep very 

 much to themselves. Hundreds of these birds were on 

 the shore of the lake, where the grass was grazed as 

 closely as on a goose green, but a far larger number 

 were seated on the water, where flock after flock joined 

 them as we disturbed them from their resting-place on 

 the bank. On the water all was activity and incessant 

 motion, the birds diving and changing places constantly, 

 while the melodious, oft-repeated call of the wigeon, and 

 the whistle of the teal, accompanied by the occasional 

 deep note of the wild duck, added immensely to the 

 charm. The note of the female wigeon is a low guttural 

 sound difficult to describe, and appears not to be uttered 

 nearly so often as that of the male. 



On the shore, Mr. Monement tells me that in foggy 

 weather and rain wigeon are restless and silent at night, 

 but when the weather is bright and frosty they are 

 usually noisy and more or less unsuspecting. As with 

 wild duck the female of the wigeon is a more expert 

 diver when wounded than the male, although the supe- 

 riority is not so marked. He finds the wigeon's sense 

 of smell to be less acute than that of the wild duck 

 or teal, but it is nevertheless unsafe for the gunner to 

 go directly to windward of them unless at a considerable 

 distance. 



Occasionally the wigeon has been known to stay the 

 whole summer in this county, but I do not think there 

 is any well authenticated instance of its breeding here. 

 Mr. Booth (" Eough Notes ") says that those birds met 

 with by him at Hickling, in the summer, "always exhibited 

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