CHILIAN WIDGEON 
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Patagonia. Though it is found chiefly on lagoons and rivers even in Chile (Quijada, 
1910) and has been seen there even on a mountain stream (Blaauw, 1916a), I suspect 
that it may be more coastal on the Pacific side of the Andes. At any rate it is an 
abundant bird on the Chiloe Islands, whence it gets its English name. 
Wariness. Like the European Widgeon and the Baldpate this species is in 
general a wild and wary bird (Abbott, 1861 ; Durnford, 1878; P. L. Sclater and Hud- 
son, 1889; E. Gibson, 1920) but at the same time it seems to become tame very 
quickly in places where unmolested. Crawshay (1907) speaks of it as the wildest of 
all ducks in Tierra del Fuego, but he tells of a pool of water kept as a sanctuary, 
some hundred yards from the manager’s house at Useless Bay Settlement, where 
sometimes as many as twenty or thirty Widgeon could be seen and conveniently 
watched. 
Daily Movements. In districts where it feels secure this Widgeon feeds by 
day as well as at night, and even in the southern part of the Province of Buenos 
Aires it is said to be the first to fly to the feeding grounds in the evening, and the 
last to leave them in the morning (de Beauquesne, 1911). 
Gait, Swimming, Diving. I never made any notes on the only pair of this 
species which I kept in confinement. It is essentially “Widgeon-like” and there is 
nothing characteristic in its movements. Like its relatives in North America and in 
Europe it is a very vivacious and agile bird (de Beauquesne, 1911) but presumably 
never dives excepting when wounded. I am told by Mr. J. L. Peters that even 
when winged it does not ordinarily dive. 
Flight. The Chiloe Widgeon is a powerful flier (P. L. Sclater and Hudson, 
1889; E. Gibson, 1920) and probably does not differ at all in this respect from its 
congeners. The flocks are usually small, numbering from ten to twenty (P. L. 
Sclater and Hudson, 1889; de Beauquesne, 1911; E. Gibson, 1920), in autumn on 
migration running as high as thirty or forty (E. Gibson, 1920) and occasionally, 
perhaps in winter when flocks are more closed, numbering as many as from one to 
two hundred (P. L. Sclater and Hudson, 1889). I do not know whether this Widgeon 
has the characteristic “fluttering” action during flight common to the others. I 
presume it has but Mr. Peters was quite certain he did not hear it. 
Association with other Species. Like other Widgeon this species is not often 
found in close company with other ducks (E. Gibson, 1920), but at the mouth of the 
Chubut River it has been seen feeding together with the Brown Pintail (Durnford, 
1878). Mr. Peters tells me that in western Patagonia he found it quite commonly 
