98 
ANATIM. 
THE WIGEON. 
Anas penelope, Linn. 
Frequents tlie marine loughs, &c., in great numbers for 
above six months of the year. 
Arrival and Departure. — Its first appearance in Belfast Bay, after 
the breeding season, is generally in the month of August. In 
several consecutive years it was thus observed : — August 21, 1840, 
four arrived — September 9, 1841, about thirty — August 29, 1842, 
wigeon and teal killed in company — August 23, 1843, an adult 
male, and on the 25th, three others obtained — August 30, 1844, a 
few seen — August 27, 1845, wigeon re-appeared, as well as brent 
geese — August 27, 1847, two wigeon shot; teal and wild ducks 
have been here for some time : — on the 11th of September, 1847, 
such large flocks of wigeon and teal were seen as to induce two 
wild-fowl shooters to give up their summer avocation (at which they 
earn from I Os. to 12s. per week) and commence the winter cam- 
paign ; — -August 23, 1848, a couple of wigeon killed. They 
gradually increase in numbers from the period of arrival. On the 
1st September, 1839, a fowler observed a flock of about twenty ; 
on the 10th, he, with the aid of a telescope, reckoned seventy-five 
in a flock ; and, a day or two afterwards, saw not less than a hun- 
dred together ; — from this time to the end of the month great 
numbers arrived. The adult males are rarely seen or shot before 
November. The oldest shooter in the bay considers that wigeon 
are the first of the migratory wild-fowl (not including ducks and 
teal) to appear here after the breeding season, and the earliest to 
depart in spring ; and that, by the end of March, they are nearly 
all gone. Other fowlers agree that they are the first to leave in 
spring ; and, though some remain considerably later than the end 
of Eebruary, that the great mass then take their departure. On 
the 16th of April, 1837, one was killed on Lough Neagh*; to 
* Late in the season chiefly — in March, &c. — I have seen wigeon brought from 
this locality. On the 31st March, 1843, I saw large flocks on the lake in the 
demesne of Lurgan House (county of Armagh) ; where the old males, admitting of a 
near approach, looked very beautiful. 
