219 



WIGMEOtf. 



WIDGEOX. WHEW. WHISTLER. GOLDEX-HEADED WIGEOX. 



Anas penelope, .... Jjlssmus. 



2Iareca Jistularis, .... Stephens. 



Canard siffleur, .... TEiinrycE. 



Anas — A Duck. Penelope — A Wigecm, (Pltnt.) 



Ixxtmerable Wigeon come to this country during the season of frost and snow, and 

 large numbers of them meet with hut a sorry reception; their advent being the 

 signal for a general crusade against them, with guns of all descriptions, from the light 

 shoulder gun to the large swivel gun, which will carry a pound of large shot or slugs 

 for one hundred and fifty yards. Tbey make their appearance in this country, a few, 

 as earlv as the end of August; but the great mass does not arrive until the end of 

 September, or early in October. They continue with us during the winter, and take 

 their departure in March and April. Some, however, remain to breed in the extreme 

 north of Scotland — in Sutherlandshire, among the numerous lakes of which county they 

 find suitable nesting-places. 



\Tigeon are met with in greater or less abundance over the whole of England, \Yales, 

 Scotland, and Ireland, during the winter. 



It is found, we believe, in all the countries on the continent of Europe and Asia. 

 breeding in the northern ones, as Xorway and Sweden. 



Eew of our Ducks are in greater request for the table than the Wigeon; and their 

 value in this respect is so well known, that the dealers will try to pass off other species 

 as TTigeon. \Ve remember an attempt of this kind being made upon us by a Dublin 

 dealer, who vainly endeavoxrred to convince us that one of the Fuligulince, we forget 

 which species, was a "regular "Wigeon." 



The "Wigeon is readily captured in decoys, and large numbers are thus supplied to 

 the markets. It is a wary bird, and by no means easy to be approached in an entirely 

 wild state; though where it is protected from its artificial enemies in the shape of guns, 

 "et hoc genus omne," as by Charles "Waterton, Esq., at "Walton Hall, it seems to throw 



