The Wigeon ' 47 
The nest of the female Wigeon is generally placed at from ten to twenty- 
yards from the nearest water, and generally in coarse grass or heather/ 
Sometimes, like the Mallard, she will wander far in the tundra, and one of 
the only two nests I have found in Scotland I stumbled on by accident right 
in the middle of a grouse moor, and far from the lake near which I had been 
searching the whole morning. Generally from seven to ten cream-coloured 
eggs are laid. 
Like others of the family, the Wigeon drakes abandon the ducks as soon 
as the latter commence to sit, and form small parties which keep together out 
in the lakes or broad rivers of their summer home ; and it is, I think, some 
evidence of the accepted maturity of the young brown-grey drakes that the old 
white-winged birds permit their companionship at this season, because in all 
species of birds where immaturity precludes breeding, the adult force the 
young non-breeders to form flocks of their own and live apart. By the middle 
of August the old females and young begin to join together, and are generally 
the first to commence the southern migration. These are then followed, in 
September, by the stragglers and males with brown shoulders moulting into 
white, and adult males still in nearly complete eclipse but showing the first 
signs of winter in the upper scapulars. When all the males arrive they mix 
indiscriminately with other Wigeon, and so the addition to the ranks is 
swelled gradually until November, when the large winter packs are formed. 
The call of the male Wigeon is a loud ' Whee-ou,' a note both wild and 
musical, and dear to the heart of every gunner that has wandered on the 
coasts; it also makes a very peculiar 'cheeping' note (rather like the call of 
the twite) when frightened. The female also has two calls, both somewhat 
similar yet quite distinct, both a sort of throaty croak, one being used to 
attract the attention of others of her species ; the other, somewhat harsher, is 
emitted in moments of fear. 
Wigeon will occasionally cross with other surface feeders, and I have seen 
hybrids with Mallard, Pintail, and Teal ; whilst it is said to have also mated 
^ A nest I saw at Scampston, Yorks, in May, 1900, was placed in nettles. 
