'illE WIGEON. 
279 
Winton writes to me, “ both males and females assume a very 
distinct summer dress of reddish-brown, though the female is 
not quite so rufous. In the male all traces of the beautiful 
breeding-dress disappear.” Sir Savile Crossley, finding that 
I was interested in the summer plumage of Ducks, very kindly 
had a pair of Wigeon caught for me and sent up to London 
alive. On the day of their arrival (August 24th) the male 
had moulted his wings and assumed the full plumage, 
speculum and all, but the female was still helpless, the quills 
being in full moult. The male, however, still retained much 
of his post-nuptial dress, and the feathers of the back were 
blackish, with rufous margins and bars ; the head and neck 
were rufous, spotted with black, but distinctly glossed with 
green ; the chest and sides of the body were dark chestnut, 
mottled with sub-terminal bars of black. 
The fcm.ale was darker than the male, but the feathers were 
also blackish, with rufous bars and margins, and the head was 
especially dark, almost black, but with a very distinct green 
gloss ; the wing-markings, however, were very different from 
those of the male, and resembled, as far as the feathers were 
developed, those of the full-plumaged hen-bird. 
Cliaractars. — The Wigeon is distinguished by the white patch 
on the wing, formed by the median and greater coverts, the 
grey bill tipped with black, and the green speculum. 
Hybrids. — Crosses have been known to take place between 
the Wigeon and Mallard, Teal, and Pin-tail. The latter are 
very rare, but Sir Edward Grey possesses a brood of the latter 
hybrids hatched on his estate in Northumberland. 
EEmgo in Great Britain. — Occurs chiefly in England during 
autumn and spring migration, sometimes in immense numbers. 
It has not been known to nest anywhere in England, but in 
the north of Scotland, in Sutherland, Ross, Cromarty, and 
Caithness it breeds regularly. Mr. Ussher writes with regard 
to the Wigeon in Ireland : — “ Lord Caledon states that he 
has seen the old birds in summer, at Caledon, Co. Tyrone. A 
pair of Wigeon were seen in June, 1893, on Lough Allen in 
Leitrim.” The mere appearance of birds during the summer 
does not prove that they bred in the neighbourhood. This 
autumn a specimen was sent to the British Museum as a 
