WIDGEON. 
Anas penelope. 
Char. Adult male: mantle white, marked with fine lines o£ dark 
gray; shoulders white, followed by bar of black; wing-patch green; 
longer wing-feathers and tail dark brown ; head and neck chestnut, shad- 
ing to buff on the forehead and to black on the throat ; breast gray, tinged 
with rufous and shading to white below, which extends across the belly; 
sides marked with fine lines of dark gray; under tail-coverts black; bill 
slate blue, tipped with black ; legs and feet dusky lead color. Soon after 
the mating season the male assumes plumage similar to the female. 
Female: upper parts grayish brown, — the feathers with paler margins ; 
under parts white, the breast huffish brown ; under tail-coverts barred 
with brown; wing-patch grayish brown. Length i8 inches. 
Nest. Concealed amid rank herbage or under a bush, on the margin of 
a lake ; a deep bowl made of sedges and lined with grass and down. 
Eggs. 7-12 (usually about 10) ; rich cream color or buff; average size 
2.20 X 1.50. 
Though generally set down in the books as a bird of the Old 
World, the Widgeon has been known to occur on this we.stern 
shore of the Atlantic much too often to be omitted from the pres- 
ent connection. The bird breeds on Iceland, and probably occurs 
regularly in Greenland, though in small numbers ; and every year 
