Genoa on their passage in spring ; and from Italy are said to
gó as far south as Egypt. Mr. Strickland saw Wigeon. at
Smyrna during winter,... I t was. observed in the vicinity óf
the Caucasus, and .is found in India and Japan.
In the adult male the hilt is brownish-black, tinged, with
lead colour; irides dark brown ; from, .the eye a green streak
passing backwards; forehead and top of the head, cream
white; the cheeks;and hind part..of the neck rich reddish
chestnutinterscapulars, scapulars; and all the back greyish^
white, crossed with irregular zigzag lines of black; upper
tail-coverts freckled with g rey ; tail-feathers elongated, point-*
ed, and nearly black; wing-coverts white, tipped with black ;•
the primaries-uniform dark-brown; the: outer . webs pf the
secondaries' form a green speculum edged with black *•.. the
black outer webs of the tertials broadly edged with white »
the inner webs hair-brown ; chin and neck* in^ront. almost
black;, lower part of neck and the space before the wing
pale rufous; under wing, sides, and flanks, marked with
dark transverse zigzag lines’ on a ground of white; breast*
belly, and vent white ; under tail-coverts velvet black; legs*
toes, and their membranes dark brown.
The whole length eighteen inches. From thé carpal joint
or point of the wing, to the-end of the longest quill-feather,
ten inches and a half; the length of the first and second
primary quill-feathers nearly equal.
The adult male birds undergo considerable change in their
appearance towards the en d ! of July or the beginning of
August, becoming much more uniform in their general colour,
losing somè of the most conspicuous external differences
which distinguish males from females, and which are to be
considered as secondary sexual characters.
The female Wigeon has the bill bluish-black ; the irides
brown; head and neck" brown, tinged with rufous, and
speckled with dark brown ; the back varied with two shades
of brown, that in the centre of each feather the darkest in
colour, the paler brown on the margins tinged with rufous;
quill and tail-feathers as in the male; under surface of the
body nearly white.;
The young male birds of the year are, for a time, in
plumage resembling that of the females.
The tujbe of the windpipe in the adult male Wigeon is
about six inches in length, and nearly equal in diameter
throughout ; the form of the bony enlargement and the depending
bronchial tubes as figured in the vignette below.