WIG EON. 181 



The Wigeon. 



Descr. — Male, forehead and crown creamy-yellow ; rest of 

 the head and upper part of the neck chesnut-red ; the cheeks 

 speckled with black ; back minutely barred with transverse wavy 

 lines of black and white ; scapulars black, edged with white ; tail 

 blackish grey ; wing-coverts pure white ; the greater coverts with 

 velvet black tips, some of the lesser ones, near the body, pale 

 greyish ; quills cinereous brown ; speculum of three bars, the 

 middle one glossy green, the upper and under ones black ; chin 

 and throat black ; lower part of the neck and breast vinaceous red ; 

 abdomen white, the flanks with black and white wavy lines ; 

 under tail-coverts black, glossed green. 



Bill plumbeous blue, black at the tip ; irides red-brown ; legs 

 dusky leaden. Length 18J inches ; wing 10J ; tail 4| ; bill at 

 front If ; tarsus barely 1J ; mid-toe not quite 2. 



The female has the head and neck fulvous brown, speckled with 

 dusky ; the back and scapulars dusky brown with reddish edges ; 

 wing-coverts brown, edged with whitish ; the speculum without the 

 dark green gloss ; the breast and belly much as in the male ; the 

 flanks rufous brown with ashy tips; bill and legs more dusky 

 than in the male. 



In some specimens, the forehead alone is yellowish, that tint not 

 extending over the top of the head. 



In summer the head and neck of the male become spotted with 

 black; the back and scapulars are mottled and barred with brown 

 and dusky ; the breast and sides are reddish-brown, with darker 

 bars and lines ; the under tail-coverts white, with brown bars. 



The Wigeon cannot be said to be either common or abundant 

 in India, although it is met with occasionally in every part of the 

 country, in small or moderate flocks. It has a peculiar shrill whist- 

 ling call chiefly heard during flight. Its geographical distribution 

 is over the northern and temperate regions of the Old Continent. 

 It breeds far north, and, though very abundant in Britain, is only 

 a winter visitant there. 



The American Wigeon is very closely allied, and was formerly 

 considered identical. M. castanea, Eyton, and M. gibberifrons, 



