THE WIGEON. 375 



yellow, the latter very small; the two crescents of white before 

 the eyes meet on the throat. 



" The female differs in having the head and neck of a dull dusky 

 slate, instead of the rich violet of the male; the hind head is also 

 whitish. The wavings on the back and lower parts more indistinct ; 

 wing nearly the same in both." 



THE WIGEON. 



ANAS PENELOPE. 

 Glas-lacha. 



ALTHOUGH I have never taken the nest of the Wigeon in the 

 Outer Hebrides, I have little doubt of, at least, a few pairs 

 nesting there regularly. Some of my correspondents who are 

 resident in these islands meet with Wigeon in pairs at the season 

 when all other water fowl are breeding. Dr Dewar of Glasgow, 

 who spent two months in North Uist in 1858, observed a pair on 

 a lake near the Sound of Harris in the last week of June, and shot 

 the male bird, which I afterwards saw. In the winter season the 

 species is abundant over the whole of the Long island, crowding 

 many of the shallower lakes of South Uist and Benbecula, and it 

 is likewise a very common bird in almost every district on the 

 western mainland. 



In other parts of Scotland the Wigeon is known to breed in 

 Ross-shire and Sutherlandshire, where it is found in considerable 

 numbers. Sir William Jardine and Mr Selby took the nest in 

 1834 upon a low island in Loch Laighal, and Mr Harvie Brown 

 has informed me that the Wigeon is distributed in the breeding 

 season over the central and northern parts of the county of 

 Sutherland. He also states that several pairs are frequently 

 observed on some marshy ground between Tongue and Loch 

 Eriboll. Mr A. G. More (Ibis, 1865) remarks that Mr R. Danford 

 describes the Wigeon as breeding regularly in Ross-shire, and that 

 the nest has been found in Caithness. Mr Harvie Brown once 

 took a nest on a large loch in the county of Cromarty : it was 

 placed on a tuft of old heather, and contained eight eggs. Col. 

 Drummond Hay has found the nest in Orkney; and Dr Saxby, 

 writing from Shetland, says : " In cold backward seasons I have 

 several times procured the eggs." 



