tained by Mr. Hancock had been covered by the bird for 

 some days, and Mr. Salmon tells me, that a brood of young 

 ones, observed by him in the Summer of 1834, contained only 

 six young ones. — Plate XCIV. Fig. 1. 



ANAS PENELOPE. (Linn.) 



WiGEON. 



Through the kindness of P. J. Selby, Esq. I have the 

 pleasure of figuring the egg of another bird, added by his assi- 

 duity, during his visit to the North of Scotland, to the list of 

 those which were before known to breed in this country. The 

 Wigeon was previously said to remain here during the breed- 

 ing season ; and in several collections are eggs, supposed to 

 be those of that bird : some of these I possess, but now that I 

 have the means of comparing them with one presented to me 

 by Mr. Selby, I have no doubt that they are those of the Teal 

 only, being of the same size, whilst, as is seen by the plate, 

 the egg of the Wigeon is much larger. By Mr. Selby I am 

 also favoured with the following particulars of its discovery : 

 " The nest, from which the eggs were taken, was upon an is- 

 land in Loch Laighal, upon which is a large colony of the 

 Lesser Black-backed Gull. It is covered with ferns and other 

 long herbage, and the nest, well concealed in a thick bed of 

 rushes, was composed of their decayed stems and other 

 grasses, with a large quantity of the bird's down interwoven ; 

 the eggs being far advanced, and the young nearly ready for 

 exclusion. The female we shot, when she arose from the 

 nest. Upon most of the Lochs were several pairs." On 

 many of the Norwegian fresh water lakes which we visited, 

 especially those far inland, we observed several pairs of Wi- 

 geons, but, owing to the hurried manner in which we were 

 compelled to pass over so large an extent of country, we did 

 not succeed in finding one of their nests. 



I 



