276 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



Guadalquivir; while in winter it extends to Northern Africa and 

 up the valley of the Nile into Nubia. It occurs throughout 

 Central Asia, breeding in Turkestan, and reaches to the Pacific 

 coast in Eastern Siberia. The eastern birds winter in India and 

 China. The Gadwall also breeds in North America at about 

 the same latitudes as in the Old World, and is found in winter 

 as far south as Mexico and the Greater Antilles. 



Habits. The Gadwall is a great skulker and always shy, but 

 on the water it is a very smart-looking bird, as it swims lightly, 

 with its feathers brushed hard back to a point behind its neck. 

 It is a fresh-water Duck and is not often captured on the sea 

 coasts, and is to a great extent gregarious, being sometimes 

 seen in hundreds on fresh-water lakes. It has a powerful 

 flight, and rises easily from the .water. Its food consists of 

 leaves and flower-buds of water-plants, and in India, accord- 

 ing to Mr. A. O. Hume, largely of rice, so that in the early 

 season its flesh is said to be excellent. Like other Ducks, the 

 diet also partly consists of insects and their larvae, small frogs, 

 and worms. The name of strepera, or " noisy," is a decided 

 misnomer for the present species, as it is a very quiet Duck. 

 Lord Lilford says that the note of the male is a curious rattling 

 croak, a sort of mixture of the alarm-cry of the Mallard and 

 the sound uttered by the male Garganey. 



Nest. A mere depression in the ground, with a scanty lining 

 of dry grass, bits of reed or rush, and, in some cases, a few dead 

 leaves. It is carefully concealed by the overhanging grass or 

 rushes. 



Eggs. From eight to twelve in number; buffy-white or 

 creamy-white, and slightly glossy, some inclining to greenish. 

 Axis, 2-1-2-25 inches; diam., 1-55. 



Down. Light brown, with a centre star of white, the fila- 

 ments brown at the ends, not silvery-whitish ; there is also an 

 admixture of pure white downy plumes. 



THE WIGEON. GENUS MARECA. 

 Mareca, Steph. Gen. Zool. xii. pi. 2, p. 130 (1824). 



Type, M. penelope (L.). 



The form of the Wigeon is very similar to that of the 

 Gadwalls, but the lamellae of the upper mandible are not so 



i 



