54;j 



nest or young having been taken ; but the above occurrences have taken place in one or two 

 localities in the ' broad-district,' and once in a much more inland locality." Mr. Cordeaux states 

 that it is the commonest Duck in the Humber, where stragglers arrive in September, the main 

 body arriving about November ; and he remarks that almost all that are shot there are males, 

 a mature female being an extreme rarity. In Scotland it has been found breeding in several 

 localities ; and Mr. Kobert Gray writes (B. of W. of Scotl. p. 375) as follows : — "Although 1 

 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 waterfowl 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 after- 

 wards saw. In the winter season the species is abundant over the whole of the Long Island, 

 crowding many of the shallow 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." 



Mr. J. A. Harvie-Brown states that in Sutherlandshire it is more common north and east of 

 Loch Shin than elsewhere, and is extremely rare, if not altogether absent, in the west ; and he 

 further adds as follows: — "Mr. J. Crawford writes that they are frequently observed on some 

 marshy ground between Tongue and Loch Eriboll ; and these birds doubtless breed in that 

 neighbourhood." Sir William Jardine and Mr. Selby took the nest in 1834 upon a low island 

 in Loch Laighal. Mr. E. Danford states that it breeds regularly in Ross-shire, and that the 

 nest has been found in Caithness. Colonel Drummond-Hay found it nesting in Orkney ; and 

 Dr. Saxby, who says (B. of Shetl. p. 245) that it " visits Shetland regularly in September and 

 October on its way southwards, leaving a few small parties to remain during the winter, but 

 returning in much greater numbers in spring," adds that he has received eggs from Yell, Unst, 

 and Hascocea, and has no doubt that they are found in the more unfrequented parts of the 

 Mainland. 



In Ireland it is not known to have bred, being merely a winter visitant, and is for about six 

 months a very common bird on the marine loughs &c. According to Professor Reinhardt, 

 Holboll sent a young male from Greenland to the Copenhagen Museum in 1851 ; and two others 

 have subsequently been obtained there. 



Professor Newton says that, according to Faber, it is found in Iceland, but is not so common 

 as the Pintail, and arrives later. The time of its departure he did not ascertain. It breeds at 

 Myvatn, and probably elsewhere. Mr. H. C. Muller has obtained several on the Faeroes; and 

 Captain Feilden says that he believes it not unfrequently breeds there, for he saw a male which 

 was killed in Leinumvatn in the end of May 1872, when in company with a female, and on the 

 11th June he saw three pairs on a lake near Eide, Osteroe. 



In Scandinavia the Wigeon is common during the breeding-season, and some remain there 

 throughout the year. Mr. Robert Collett informs me that it is " one of the commonest Ducks 

 in Norway, where it breeds along the whole coast, from Hvaloer to the Russian frontier ; but in 

 the interior it is not so common, and nests almost exclusively in the mountains. In winter 

 numerous flocks are found at the mouths of the fiords." 



