180 RIVER AND POND DUCKS 



European Widgeon 



Mareca penelope 

 (ma-r-ka, pe-nel-o-pe) 



Colour Plate No. 9. 



SCIENTIFIC NAME 



Mareca, the Brazilian name of a kind of Teal; penelope, Greek or Latin, 

 penelope or penelopa, a mythological character celebrated for her virtue, but as 

 the use of this name has no meaning in the context, it is probably a mistake for 

 penelops, Latin, a kind of duck, so called by Pliny. 



COLLOQUIAL NAMES 



IN GENERAL USE: Widgeon. IN LOCAL USE: Ice duck; Norwegian duck; Norwegian 

 widgeon; redhead; red-headed widgeon; swamp widgeon. 



DESCRIPTION 



ADULT MALE. WINTER PLUMAGE: Head and neck, bright cinnamon red with 

 buffy-cream forehead and crown; sides and back of head, minutely flecked with 

 black spots with greenish gloss, a dark ring of spots around eye; throat, dusky; 

 bill, much shorter than head, bright greyish blue, with black tip, lower mandible 

 black; eye, dark brown; lower eyelid, buffy, upper, black. Body. Back, scapulars 

 and sides, white, finely vermiculated with dusky, producing grey effect, longer 

 scapulars slightly washed with cinnamon; rump, lighter grey with white edgings; 

 chest, purplish pink, with sometimes a few darker spots; breast and belly, pure 

 white; white patch on flanks at each side of base of tail; feet, light bluish grey 

 to dull yellowish brown, with slightly darker webs. Tail, middle feathers, dark 

 grey to dusky brown, pointed, others silvery grey, edged with white; upper coverts, 

 glossy black, middle ones with inner web whitish or buffy; under coverts, black. 

 Wings. All coverts, white, except lesser coverts along edge of wing, brownish, 

 greater coverts tipped with black; primaries, ashy brown; secondaries, with 

 metallic-green speculum, shading to black behind, and bordered in front with 

 black and inwardly with white; tertials, black, edged with white, dusky on inner 

 web; lining, silvery grey, speckled with brownish grey; axillars, flecked and mottled 

 with greyish. 



ECLIPSE PLUMAGE: The moult into eclipse begins in June or July and is at its 

 height in August. The full-plumaged wing is renewed. In eclipse plumage male 

 closely resembles female except for wings. 



AUTUMN PLUMAGE: From the eclipse plumage, in which it closely resembles the 

 female, except for the wing, the adult male in early autumn starts to moult 

 into the winter plumage. In early stages the male can be recognized by the 

 presence of some cinnamon-red feathers of the winter plumage on the head, and 

 by the new vermiculated feathers which are appearing on the back, scapulars and 

 sides. Later in the autumn the buffy-cream forehead and crown become evident, 

 while the cinnamon red of the head and chest resembles more and more that of 

 the full plumage; a few brownish eclipse feathers still linger on the back and 

 sides. 



ADULT FEMALE. Head and neck, cinnamon buff, flecked with dusky or 

 greenish, darker around eye and on back of head; bill and eye, same as in male. 

 Body. Back, scapulars and rump, dusky brown, feathers edged with brownish 

 buff or grey, longer scapulars edged with brownish buff, and white on longest; 



