198 THE WIGEON. 
may some day turn up in the central or northern portions of this 
Province. 
It is common in Kathiawar, less so in Cutch, not very 
uncommon in Gujarat, Khandesh, Berar, and the western half 
of the Central Provinces. It is very common in the Deccan, 
not uncommon during some seasons in the Konkan,* and the 
Nizam’s Territories, and occurs, in considerable numbers, in 
some parts of Mysore. But southwards of this my record fails ; 
I cannot find it noted from Ceylon or any of the Madras 
districts south of Mysore, or from the eastern portions of the 
Central Provinces or Chota Nagpur, and Ball excludes it entirely 
in his Conspectus of the Avifauna of the region lying between 
the Ganges and the Godavari. 
It is very likely, however, that it may occur in many of these 
localities the birds of which have never yet been systematically 
worked out. | 
Outside our limits it occurs in Independent Burmah, and 
throughout China, in winter, though there too very locally distri- 
buted, extending to Japan, and strange to say, the Pribylov 
Islands in Behring Sea which are nearer the American than the 
Asiatic Coast. It has recently been obtained in Borneo. It 
probably breeds in Mongolia, and throughout Central and 
Southern Siberia, and Prjevalski saw it on migration at the 
Koko-Nor and at lake Hanka, where some breed, but none of our 
explorers have met with it at any season in Yarkand, the true 
Central Asia. In Western Turkestan Severtzov observed it in 
winter, and on passage, and it occurs, we know, in the Caspian, 
in Afghanistan and Beluchistan, and on the coasts of the Persian 
and Oman Gulfs, also during the winter. It has been found in 
Armenia, Asia Minor, and Palestine. Throughout the temperate 
zone in Europe and North Africa it occurs as asummer or winter 
visitant, and in some few localities perhaps as a permanent 
resident ; and it is said to be not uncommon on the Atlantic Coasts 
of North America, being elsewhere, on that Continent, replaced 
by a closely allied species. 
* Thus Vidal says: —“ Wigeon in some years are very abundant on the Vashishti river, 
congregating in large flocks of five hundred birds or more; but they are not like 
Common ‘Teal, widely distributed. In 1878-79, after the highest rainfall on record, 
not a Wigeon was to be found in the district ; but in 1879-80, after a year of mode- 
rate rainfall, they reappeared again in their usual strength on the Vashishti. Wigeon 
arrive comparatively late, and usually leave by the end of February. Before the 
reeds on the mud banks have been cut, very pretty shooting is to be had at the 
junction of the Vashishti and Tagbudi rivers by stealing up the lagoons in a light 
and silent canoe. But after the reeds are cut, the Duck get very wild, and cannot be 
approached by land or water. The only way then is to take up a position in 
ambush at the edge of some swamp over which they pass and repass on their way 
irom one ground to another, and to have them driven backwards and forwards.” 
Mr. J. Davidson writes :—‘‘The Wigeon also is a very common duck in the 
Deccan ; it was noticed by me in the Panch Mahals, but rarely in Mysore (I only 
remember one largish flock’). But Major Charles McInroy writes that in Mysore 
‘a fair number are seen in some parts.” 
