Family ANATID^. Genus Anas. 



Subfamily Anatinm. 



AMERICAN WIGEON. 



ANAS AMERICANA— <?OTf/2«. 



Geographical Distribution. — British: Very rare and acci- 

 dental visitor ; its claim to rank as a " British " species being 

 supported by most unsatisfactory evidence. It is with no small 

 amount of hesitation that I have included this species in the 

 present work, and my chief reason in doing so is to stimulate the 

 interest of British sportsmen, and to put them on the qui vive in 

 case examples chance to visit our islands. That this bird does so 

 from time to time is far from improbable ; but until we have more 

 positive proof than that forthcoming, every careful student must 

 feel dubious of its claim to rank as an accidental wanderer to 

 our shores. The evidence is as follows : Leadenhall Market 

 (i example, which may have been captured on the Continent and 

 consigned with other fowl to London), winter of 1837-38; Coast 

 of Essex (i example, not confirmed by any recognised authority), 

 January, 1864; Devonshire (i example, not confirmed by any 

 recognised authority), April, 1870. Scotland : Banffshire (i ex- 

 ample, not preserved, and entirely unauthenticated), January, 

 1841. Ireland: Strangford Lough, Co. Down (i example, not 

 preserved, and recorded by Thompson on hearsay evidence), 

 February, 1844 {Conf. Thompson, B. of Ireland, iii. p. 112). One 

 example is said to have occurred in France; and Mr. Howard 

 Saunders records a specimen as being in a collection of birds at 

 St. Michael's, in the Azores. This, together with the fact that the 

 bird wanders to the Bermudas and is rarely or never kept in 

 captivity in our islands, is confirmatory evidence of its accidental 

 occurrence in them. Foreign : Nearctic region, more southerly 



