I g8 THE VvTGEON.
may some clay turn up in the central or northern portions of this
Province.
It is common in Kathiawar, less so in Cutch, not very
uncommon in Gujarat, Khandesh, Berar, and the western half
of the Central Provinces. It is very common in the Deccan,
not uncommon during some seasons in the Konkan* and the
Nizam's Territories, and occurs, in considerable numbers, in
some parts of Mysore. But southwards of this my record fails ;
I cannot find it noted from Ceylon or any of the Madras
districts south of Mysore, or from the eastern portions of the
Central Provinces or Chota Nagpur, and Ball excludes it entirely
in his Conspectus of the Avifauna of the region lying between
the Ganges and the Gddavarf.
It is very likely, however, that it may occur in many of these
localities the birds of which have never yet been systematically
worked out.
Outside our limits it occurs in Independent Burmah, and
throughout China, in winter, though there too very locally distributed,
extending to Japan, and strange to say, the Pribylov
Islands in Bchring Sea which are nearer the American than the
Asiatic Coast. It has recently been obtained in Borneo. It
probably breeds in Mongolia, and throughout Central and
Southern Siberia, and Prjevalski saw it on migration at the
Koko-Nor and at lake Ilanka, where some breed, but none of our
explorers have met with it at any season in Yarkand, the true
Central Asia. In Western Turkestan Scvertzov observed it in
winter, and on passage, and it occurs, we know, in the Caspian,
in Afghanistan and Beluchistan, and on the coasts of the Persian
and Oman Gulfs, also during the winter. It has been found in
Armenia, Asia Minor, and Palestine. Throughout the temperate
zone in Europe and North Africa it occurs as a summer or winter
visitant, and in some few localities perhaps as a permanent
resident; and it is said to be not uncommon on the Atlantic Coasts
of North America, being elsewhere, on that Continent, replaced
by a closely allied species.
•Thus Vidal says:—"Wigeon in some years are very abundant on the Vashishli river,
congregating in large flocks- of five hundred birds or more ; but they are not like
Common Teal, widely distributed. In 1 8 7 8 - 7 9 , after the highest rainfall on record,
not a Wigeon was to be found in the district ; but in 1 8 7 9 - S 0 , after a year of moderate
rainfall, they reappeared again in their usual strength on the Vashishli. Wigeon
arrive comparatively late, and usually leave by the end of February. Before the
reeds on the mud banks have been cut, very pretty shooting is to be had at the
junction of the Vashishti and Tagbudi rivers by stealing up the lagoons in a light
and silent canoe. But after the reeds are cut, the Duck get very wild, and cannot be
approached by land or water. The only way then is to take up a position in
ambush at the edge of some swamp over which they pass and repass on their way
iroiu one ground to another, and to have them driven backwards and forwards."
Mr. J. Davidson writes:—"The Wigeon also is a very common duck in the
Deccan ; it was noticed by me in the Pinch Mahals, but rarely in Mysore (I only
remember one largish flock"). But Major Charles Mclnroy writes that in Mysore
" a fair number are seen in some parts."
THE WIGEON. 199
I HAVE seldom seen the Wigeon anywhere, either in hills
or plains before the last week in October; but I once shot one
in the Dun on the 21st of that month. In the North-West
Provinces I have never shot one as late as April, and further
south they leave during the middle of March ; but I have a
specimen killed in the Peshawur Valley on the 17th of April.
The Wigeon is a very irregular migrant to all parts of the
country ; all accounts are in accord on this point. " One year we
see hardly any ; the next perhaps they are specially abundant,"
is the purport of what correspondents from a dozen different
localities have written. Habitually they are far more common
during the winter in the south, the Deccan for instance,
than in Upper India; but by comparing accounts it would seem
that, when they are commonest in the North-West Provinces
and Oudh, they are least common in the south, and vice versd,
and this may be generally the case, and so not improbably,
though very differently distributed in different years, much
about the same number yearly find their way to the Empire
as a whole.
Where they are abundant you find them, as a rule, in flocks
of from twenty to five hundred ; where scarce, in pairs or small
parties, rarely exceeding seven in number.
Their flight is swift and powerful, but not equal to that of
the Pin-tail. On the other hand it is accompanied by a much
harsher rustle, which can always be distinguished from that
of the other fowl that I know. They spring up more readily
than the Pin-tail from the water or the ground, and more perpendicularly
than these. In fact, in these respects they are
about equal to the Gad wall; and, though they come easily to bait,
and are often captured therefore in fall-nets, they must be
flushed pretty close to the standing net, or they will clear it.
They swim very well, and when wounded and pursued, give a
long chase, diving continually and turning rapidly under water.
Where undisturbed they are seen more on land than most
of our ducks, walking about on the turf that often fringes
our broads and rivers, and grazing freely.
In Upper India, we habitually meet with them on goodsized
pieces of water, some portions of the shores of which
are smooth and turfy. They are excessively rare on bare
lakes like the Sambhar. On small ponds I have never once
seen them. Nor have I, except very rarely, seen them on our
large rivers, but they are not so uncommon in smaller rivers
flowing through meadow-like turfy flats. They are common
enough on the sea coast however, though generally some little
distance up the estuaries and creeks where there is a certain
admixture of fresh water.
With us in the North-West Provinces they are more purely
grass-eaters than any other cluck. Of a large number of specimens
that I obtained this last cold season at the Phulpur