The American Wigeon 
57 
The Plumage of the American Wigeon 
Adult Male (Winter). — Weight 2 lbs. 2 ozs. to 2 lbs. 6 ozs. ; length 18 
to 20 inches ; wing 1 1 inches. Bill blue-grey with black tip ; legs and feet grey- 
over brown ; forehead and crown white or buff ; sides of head, from the eyes 
to nape, bright green interspersed with black bars ; cheeks and throat buff, 
dotted and barred with black ; upper breast and sides reddish, and each feather 
edged with grey, feathers above the thighs being finely vermiculated with 
black ; belly and vent white ; under tail and tail coverts black ; back grey- 
brown, vermiculated finely with black ; lesser wing coverts white, the greater 
tipped with black ; a bright green patch on the secondaries. 
All the plumage changes of the American Wigeon are similar to the 
European bird, young males sometimes obtaining their complete plumage in 
the first spring, but more often retaining the immature wing into the eclipse, 
and moulting into complete winter plumage when seventeen months old. The 
old male in eclipse plumage more closely resembles the female of his own 
species than our drake Wigeon — his flanks are very grey-brown, and not that 
rich, red-brown colour seen in our bird. 
Adult Female. — The female American Wigeon is smaller than the male. 
She has the head and neck white and speckled, with broader and blacker bars 
than our Wigeon ; although she very closely resembles our bird, the markings 
are all more pronounced. There is, however, not so much red-brown on the 
flanks or breast, and the western bird is darker on the back. In first plumage 
the two birds so closely resemble one another that it is impossible to give 
any specific characteristics. 
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