260 AMERICAN WIDGEON. 



While advancing along the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, in April 1837, 

 I and my party observed this species in considerable numbers; and during 

 the whole of our stay in Texas, we daily saw and very frequently procured 

 Widgeons. There they were found in ponds of brackish water, as well as in 

 the fresh-water streams. Before we left that country they were all paired, 

 and I was informed by the Honourable M. Fisher, Secretary to the Texian 

 Navy, that a good number of them breed in the maritime districts, along 

 with several other Ducks, and that he annually received many of the young 

 birds. Their manners at this time fully proved the correctness of the 

 statements of all those who spoke to me on this subject. Indeed my opinion 

 is that some of these birds also propagate in certain portions of the most 

 southern districts of the Floridas, and in the Island of Cuba, as I have seen 

 Widgeons in the peninsula in single pairs, in the beginning of May. 



Their retrograde movements in spring, like those of other species, depend 

 much upon the temperature or the advance of the season; and those which 

 proceed northward set out on their journey much earlier than those which 

 move in the opposite direction, the former departing from the middle of 

 March to the 20th of April. Their first appearance on the waters of the 

 Ohio takes place late in September or early in October, when they at once 

 throw themselves into the ponds of the interior, and there remain until the 

 waters are closed by ice, scarcely any betaking themselves to the rivers, 

 unless to repose on the sand-bars. They are there, however, less abundant 

 than nearer the sea-coast, and usually associate with Pintails and Teals, but 

 rarely with Mallards or Dusky Ducks. Whilst in those retired ponds of the 

 forest, from one to another of which they roam in quest of food, they are 

 less noisy than most other species, even than the Pintails, and in this respect 

 resemble the Blue-winged Teals, whose notes are feeble and delicate. Those 

 of the Widgeon are a soft whistle, somewhat similar to the word sweet, enun- 

 ciated as if produced by a flute or a hautboy, and in my judgment not at all 

 like the heiv hew spoken of by Wilson. They are less shy in those retired 

 places than most species, or are to appearance less aware of the danger of 

 allowing the sportsman to approach them. 



In feeding they immerse their neck and the anterior part of the body, 

 generally swimming closer together than other Ducks, in consequence of 

 which habits they are easily neared and often shot in great numbers at a 

 single discharge. During their stay in those districts they feed on the roots 

 and seeds of grasses, water-insects, beech-nuts, small fry, and leeches, and 

 are not so delicate as an article of food as those procured in the rice-fields of 

 South Carolina, or in the plantations of Louisiana and Florida. On their 

 return in spring (for in mild winters they remain all the season in Ken- 

 tucky), they generally continue until the end of April, and usually pair 



