The Wigeon 
45 
As the spring approaches we see on fine days the flocks of Wigeon 
splitting up into smaller parties and engaged in pairing. By the end of 
March many Wigeon have paired, and proceed to their breeding grounds 
together ; but in most cases the northern movement is undertaken in a series 
of small flocks, which gradually detach themselves from the main bodies. 
These small parties of from twenty-five to thirty birds follow one another in 
their migration, often stopping for a few days at some halting place, like the 
Shetlands or the Norwegian fiords, till, by the middle of April, none are left 
on our coasts except a few stragglers. 
The actual courtship of the Wigeon differs somewhat from that of other 
surface-feeders, and the display of the male bird is an interesting one. A 
female having shown herself desirous of selecting a mate, five or six males 
crowd closely round, hemming her in on every side and persecuting her with 
their attentions. If she swims away, they follow her in a close phalanx, every 
male raising his crest, stretching out his neck close over the water, and 
erecting the beautiful long feathers of the scapulars to show them off". He 
also depresses the shoulder joint downwards, so as to elevate the primaries in 
the air. All the time the amorous males keep up a perfect babble of loud 
*Whee-ous,' and they are by far the noisiest of ducks in their courtship. 
Occasionally the cock birds fight and drive each other off, but ducks are not, 
broadly speaking, pugnacious birds, and success in winning the admiration 
of the female is rather a matter of persistent and active attention than 
physical force. That Wigeon, and in fact all the ducks, will fight with a 
certain degree of pluck and determination, I have several times seen. In 
1900 there existed a small enclosure under my dining-room windows where, as 
I sat at my desk inside the house, I could observe ducks at all hours of the 
day. In this space amongst others was a fine old cock Wigeon, and one day 
in October I placed there a freshly caught young male of the year. The old 
fellow went for him immediately, and seized him by the back of the neck, 
and a battle royal ensued, which lasted for ten minutes. The chief object of 
both combatants seemed to be to get the other underneath and forced to the 
