AMERICAN WIDGEON. 
309 
full plumage until the second year. They are also subject to a 
regular change every spring and autumn. 
Note . — A few of these birds breed annually in the marshes 
in the neighbourhood of Duck creek, in the state of Delaware. 
An acquaintance, brought me thence, in the month of June, an 
egg, which had been taken from a nest situated in a cluster of 
alders; it was very much of the shape of the common Duck’s 
egg; the colour a dirty white; length two inches and a quarter, 
breadth one inch and five-eights. The nest contained eleven eggs. 
This species is seen on the Delaware as late as the first week 
of May. On the thirtieth of April last, I observed a large flock 
of them, accompanied by a few Mallards and Pintails, feeding 
upon the mud-flats, at the lower end of League Island, below 
Philadelphia. In the fresh water ponds, situated in the neigh- 
bourhood of the river St. John, in East Florida, they find an 
abundance of food during the winter; and they become excess- 
ively fat. It is needless to add that they are excellent eating. 
G. Ord. 
