P I N T A I L DUCK.
1JAFILA ACUTA.
Tills elegant species appears lo be distributed ever all suitable parts of the Itril.ish Islands I have visited.
While punt-gunning on tho firths intersecting I lie nurlh-easteni shores of I lie It i^hlniids in tlie ivinters of ]si;w
and ]SI>!), I met with considerable numbers, most being seen in early spring. Small parlies also occasionally
put in an appearance on tho Norfolk Broads, and a few resorted to the rivers or flooded portions of the flats of
Pevensey Level and Iionmey ;\larsh during the winters I passed in those districts.
I never succeeded in diseov crmg the nest of the Pintail in this country, though I find in my notes for 1^7*,
under date of May 28, that a pair were often observed on and aroond the hills on Hickling liroad, in the east of
Norfolk, and that latterly the drake (an exceedingly brightly marked bird) was usually seen alone. I also
ascertained that, a short time previously, a duck's nest with eight eggs, supposed lo he those of a Shoveller, had
been taken by a marslimnn on the same hill these birds frequented. As it. is improbable that, the natives were
well acquainted with the eggs of cither species, this clutch miyht possibly have belonged to the. Pintail.
While observing the habits of the fowl on the Dornoch and Cromarty tilths, 1 lind by the entries in my
notes that the first arrivals of Pintails usually took place about the middle of October, and a few birds were
often obtained about that (late while llighf-shooting on I lie Tain Sands. It was not. till the close of winter or
early spring that Hocks of this species were observed on the waters of the firths. I never noticed large mixed
bodies of males and females, seldom more than ten or a dozen being in company when both sexes were
represented, though thirty, forty, or even lifty drakes were often met with by themselves. On one occasion
(March 15th, in the Dornoch birth, 1 had sculled a small single punt within about one hundred yards of
nt lenst a score of line drakes, and was on the point of firing the big gun, in order to obtain some specimens,
when the whole were unexpectedly put on wing by several Great Black-backed Gulls swooping over with loud
screams. These rapacious (lulls having previously been accustomed to secure the cripples disabled by the
gunners, were by no means satisfied by their first attempt to secure prey, and continued so constantly in
att ndance that all sport for the day wa at an cud, till I turned my attention to thinning duwii their numbers,
wh en the few survivors ga re the punt • wide berth.
On this part of the coast the few 1 ntails that remain throughout the winter often join with the immense
not ks of Wigcou, and arc xecediiigh co ispicuous when the dense mass of fowl are ceiling over the weed-grown
po tions of the sandy flat , their super or size and long w lite necks at once nttr acting attention. The local
pu it-gunncrs have bestow cd the name of " Wigeon-leadc •s " upon these birds, 0 i account of their generally
bei ng a little in advance of the front •auks of the flocks ; when on wing also tl •y are invariably in the van.
On the 7th of April, 1809 I fired a shot with the big gun 1 t two pairs of this spe ins, floating with the tide up
tne Dornoch Firth, off M rangic, and 1 aving secured the f jur birds, was returning to the shore to load, when
.oral seals were noticed within a few hundred yards. Having recharged, I was speedily in pursuit of two
three that appeared inquisitive, and a successful shot having been made, the carcass of the unsuspecting