166 BIRDS OF THE HUMBER DISTRICT. 



rence of this Duck either in North Lincolnshire or 

 Holderness in the autumn*. 



214. QUERQUEDULA CRECCA (Linnaeus). The Teal. 



This pretty little Duck is one of the earliest as well as 

 the most regular of those which visit us in the autumn. 

 It arrives in small companies in September, and 

 occasionally as early as the middle of August, resort- 

 ing to the freshwater streams, drains, and ponds, often 

 in company with Wigeon. 



Later in the season, in November, there are usually 

 other arrivals; and in severe winters, on the occurrence 

 of long-continued frost and snow, large flocks, driven 

 probably from some northern station, visit the Hum- 

 ber and the open drains and "blow-wells" in the 

 marshes. 



44,568 were taken in thirty-five years at Ashby, 

 3279 alone in the winter of 1852-53. 



The male bird is very late in assuming the full 

 plumage after the autumnal moult. We rarely 

 obtain one in the adult dress before January. 



215. ANAS PENELOPE, Linnaeus. Wigeon. 



Provincial. Smee or Smeed, Whew-duck, Whistler, Whist- 

 ling Duck. 



The Wigeon is the commonest Duck we have in 



* Mr. J. H. Gurney, Jun., has a pair, male and female, re- 

 ceived in the flesh from Mr. Jones, of Bridlington Quay. They 

 were shot on the 1st of June, 1868, flying along the edge of the 

 sea near that place. 



