DUCK IN GENERAL AND IN PARTICULAR 13 



away at a prodigious pace. The teal is less wary 

 than most duck. Its popularity for the table is 

 great. 



Food : vegetable, including grass and seeds, with a 

 small proportion of animal. 



THE WIDGEON (Anas Penelope] 



The head of the widgeon, a surface-feeding duck, is 

 chestnut, with the top of a pale buff tint ; the breast 

 is pale greyish chestnut ; the under part of the bird 

 is white ; the back is very light grey, pencilled with 

 fine zigzag markings of black ; the secondary wing- 

 feathers are a rich green. The female is a sober- 

 plumaged bird, mottled brown above and white below. 

 In length the widgeon is about 18 inches. As a purely 

 wild bird the widgeon does not nest in England ; in 

 the extreme north of Scotland it breeds regularly, 

 and, so one is told, has also been known to nest in 

 Ireland. Early migrants reach the north-east coast of 

 Scotland during September, but the main body, in 

 enormous numbers, does not appear till the middle 

 of the following month, or later if the season in 

 northern Europe should be an open one. As the 

 weather becomes sharper the birds move southward 



