114 ANATID^E 



Flight.- Wigeon can remain a long time on the wing, 

 and even in rough weather flocks may be seen travelling 

 with great velocity at a considerable height in the air. 



Voice. The whistle of the drake sounds like whee-oo ; 

 it is shrill yet mellow, and once heard is not easily forgotten. 

 The purr of the female has already been described. 



Nest. This Duck breeds on the ground, and generally 

 not far from a fresh-water lake or pond. The nest is built, 

 for the most part, of dry grass and weeds, and is concealed 

 in a tuft of rushes or other herbage : a tuft of heather is a 

 favourite nesting- site. The eggs, five to ten in number, are 

 light creamy-yellow. 



There are but few records of the Wigeon nesting in 

 England, but in the following counties there is evidence of 

 its having probably bred : Yorkshire, Cheshire, Norfolk, and 

 Sussex (Harting, ' Handbook of British Birds,' p. 246 ; 

 Stevenson, 'Birds of Norfolk/ iii, p. 188; Borrer, 'Birds of 

 Sussex,' p. 350). 



In Scotland the nest has been obtained in Sutherland, 

 Caithness, Boss, Cromarty, Perth, and Selkirk, also in the 

 Orkneys and Shetlands (Saunders). This Duck has not been 

 recorded as a nesting- species from the Outer Hebrides, but 

 a flapper was shot on North Uist in August, 1891 (Harvie- 

 Brown, ' Avifauna, Outer Hebrides,' 1888-1902, Ann. Scot. 

 Nat. Hist., 1902-3). 



In Ireland the Wigeon has perhaps bred, though proof 

 of this is still wanting. In his ' Birds of Ireland,' Mr. 

 Ussher cites several instances of adult birds seen in the 

 height of the breeding-season ; for instance on June 3rd, 

 1893, he saw a male and female on a lake in co. Leitrim. 

 Sir Douglas Brooke has shot very young birds in Ferma- 

 nagh on August 1st, and Lord Caledon has observed this 

 Duck in the co. Tyrone in summer, while in June, 1892, 

 Mr. R. Patterson saw Wigeon repeatedly on Lough Fern, 

 co. Donegal. 



Quite recently, viz., in May, 1901, eggs were taken by 

 Mr. John Cottney in the vicinity of Belfast, and submitted 

 to Mr. Ussher and Mr. R. Patterson, who first reported them 

 to be those of the Wigeon, but after a thorough examina- 

 tion not only of the down but also of small feathers in the 

 nest, the eggs were shown to be those of the Shoveler 

 ('Zoologist/ 1901, p. 269, and 'Irish Naturalist/ 1901, 

 p. 147, and ibid., 1903, p. 275). 



The Wigeon is easily tamed and is a pretty addition 

 to an ornamental pond. 



