WILD FOWL 
The peculiar whistling note of the male— whee -you — ^is worthy of 
mention, as it is unlike the note of any other British species. It is a very 
gregarious bird, and collects in enormous flocks. 
AMERICAN WIGEON 
MARECA AMERICANA 
(Plate XXVIII, Fig. 6) 
A nas americana, Audubon, Orn. Biogr,, iv, p. 337, pi. 345 (1838). 
Mareca americana, Salvador!, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xxvH, p. 233 (1895) ; Lilford, Col. Fig. 
Brit. Birds, part xxxiii, pi. (1896) ; Saunders, III. Man. Brit. Birds, p. 439 (1899) ; Millais, 
Surface-feeding Ducks, p. 55, pi. xx (1902). 
/ DULT male. — ^Forehead and the top of the head white, tinged 
with buff ; sides of the head and neck similar, but thickly 
L speckled with black; behind the eyes a wide band of 
^ metallic -green bordering the hinder-part of the crown; 
upperparts and scapulars rufous -grey, with fine wavy 
H^black lines; rump and upper tail-coverts greyer, the 
longer upper tail -coverts black on the outer web; chest, sides and 
flanks vinaceous, the latter narrowly banded with black; breast and 
belly pure white; under tail -coverts black; wing like that of M. penelope, 
but the outermost of the long inner secondaries (the 5th) has the outer 
web grey instead of white ; tail much like that of M. penelope. Iris brown ; 
bill light greyish-blue, tip black; legs and feet light-bluish. Total length 
about 20 inches; bill 1*5 inch; wing 10*5 inches; tail 4*0 inches; tarsus 
1*8 inch. 
Adult male in eclipse-plumage. — ^Head and neck very similar to those of 
the adult female, whitish -buff, spotted all over with black, darkest on the 
crown and occiput, where the markings are larger and take the form of 
irregular bars ; back and scapulars dark brown, widely margined with 
chestnut and barred with pale rufous ; chest and sides dull chestnut, the 
former barred with blackish; under tail -coverts whitish, barred with 
brown, tinged with rufous. 
Adult female. — Very similar to the female of M. penelope., but the ground 
colour of the head and neck much whiter, the speculum formed by the 
outer webs of the secondaries uniform brownish -black, not mottled 
337 
XX 
