wigeon or widgeon, a duck of the genus Anas. The European wigeon, A. penelope, has an arctic and boreal range in Eurasia, extending as far south as Britain, where it used to be known as the easterling. Its average total length is 45 cm (18"). The American wigeon, or baldpate, is A. americana. These are gregarious birds, reputedly lacking in intelligence and therefore an easy prey for wildfowlers.
Wigeons can make good eating. De Voe (1866) gives the curiously precise (or ironic?) guidance that a wigeon which has displayed enough intelligence to watch a canvasback duck diving for wild celery, to observe it coming to the surface again, and then to ‘snatch the delicious morsel’ and make off, is considered to have an excellent flavour.
