File:Indian sporting birds (1915) (14770424073).jpg

Identifier: indiansportingbi00finn (find matches)
Title: Indian sporting birds
Year: 1915 (1910s)
Authors: Finn, Frank, 1868-1932 Hume, Allan Octavian, 1829-1912 Marshall, Charles Henry Tilson, 1841-
Subjects: Birds -- India Game and game-birds -- India
Publisher: London : Francis Edwards
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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teal, must be a wigeon;but the real bird, which has only two near allies, both American,is quite unmistakable, owing to its small, inch-long, narrow bill,which is blue-grey with a black tip, and its unusually long andnarrow wings; the belly is also conspicuously white in both sexes.In weight it is indeed intermediate between the full-sized ducksand the teal, weighing about a pound and a half. The wigeon drake is very handsome, his chestnut head withyellow forehead contrasting well with his salmon breast and greyback ; a large white patch on the wing is very conspicuous inilight. The females brown plumage is less conspicuously mottledthan that of other brown ducks of her sex, but the points abovegiven will distinguish her easily. The male, in undress is similar,but much redder brown as a rule; his white and green markingon the wing will distinguish him in this stage. The sexes differ strikingly in voice as well as in plumage, forthe drake utters what Hume well calls awhistled cry, pre-
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I -^- c/)O lU-I CO o <coijja: WIGEON 23 sunmbly imitated by the Hindustani Peasan and the NepaleseGheywi; the female growls, but is far less noisy than her mate.When in flocks, the frequent whewing of the drakes is verynoticeable, as also the way in which they apparently hump theirbacks, by raising the ends of the wings and depressing the tail,this being their display; in the ordinary way wigeon float ratherhigh, and are recognizable by their small heads and bills andpointed tails. They fly lightly and fast, wheeling and turningwith ease. They are common winter visitors to India, Burma andManipur, but do not penetrate further south than Mysore, andin many localities are rather uncertain in their appearance, notturning up at all in some years ; in Bengal, from what I observedin the Calcutta Market, they are regular enough in their appear-ance. Although to a certain extent omnivorous, as all ducks aremore or less, they are specially vegetable feeders, and have aparticular fondness fo

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