WIDGEON 
185 
Teal (Deane, 1880). When I shot there between the years 1897 and 1912 it could 
scarcely be considered an uncommon bird, and I once had four males come to my 
decoys at one time. Of course practically none of the females was recognized except 
when specially looked for. I have some reason to think that the species may not be 
so common to-day in North Carolina as it was fifteen to twenty years ago. At 
Wenham, Massachusetts, I have taken sixty-two American and no less than thirteen 
European Widgeon in twenty-two years. These last were apparently all young, and 
no fully adult male was ever seen there. 
Enemies. The enemies of the Widgeon are those of all palaearctic shoal-water 
ducks and have been discussed under Mallard. Millais (1901) seems to think that 
the Great Black-backed Gull will sometimes kill adults on the wintering grounds, 
but most of the birds killed in this way are probably sick or crippled. C. Smith 
(1881) found that the Herring Gulls are very destructive to young Widgeon reared 
in semi-captive condition. 
Damage. Injury to crops must be very slight because this has never been par- 
ticularly referred to in the literature. 
Food Value. On the whole the flesh of the Widgeon is good, but consid- 
ered inferior to that of Mallard and Teal. When its food is principally eel-grass 
and some fresh water is also obtained, it is excellent. In some cases, however, the 
birds live on marine animal food, as at Dornoch, Scotland, and the flesh then ac- 
quires a poor, bitter taste, rendering it at times inedible (Millais, 1902). On the 
coast of Northumberland where there is no Zostera, they become exceedingly rank 
(W. Thompson, 1851), and the same applies to other parts of the English coast. 
In India they are considered inferior to many other species (Hume and Marshall, 
1879; Baker, 1908). On the Chinese coast also, there seems to be great variation 
in the flesh. According to La Touche (1892) the Foochow Widgeon are very good, 
while those from Swatow are very bad. I see no reason why Widgeon feeding on 
Zostera alone are not just as good as our most delicious North American Brant from 
the east coast. 
Hunt. The old methods of taking Widgeon and other fowl are so numerous as 
to make it impossible to mention more than a few of them. The ancient system of 
clap-nets is still used in Holland for taking these ducks. The fowling floors where 
these nets are used are constructed with great care and consistently baited. An 
engine known as the “spring” which was used in English fens, and a system of 
springs and nooses called the “wile” was used on the English side of the Solway 
Firth (MacPherson, 1897). Widgeon and other fowl were taken in the seventeenth 
