THE PIN-TAIL.
Its general distribution is not unlike that of the Gadvvall, but
it covers a wider range, and has a much more northern average
breeding zone.
RATHER LATE to arrive the Pin-tail is one of the earliest of our
migratory Ducks to leave us. In the Himalayas, as in Kashmir,
Kullu and Nepal,* it arrives, no doubt, during September; but
it is rarely seen really down in the plains before November, and
it very rarely remains there, even in the North-West Provinces,
after the 1st of April, while further south it is said to leave, as
a rule, early in March. Even in Kashmir and Nepal few, if any,
remain at the close of April.
The Pin-tail, though found everywhere in India, is much more
restricted in the localities it affects than the Gadwall. It is rare
to meet with it on large rivers, and on small streams or ponds,
or in mere swamps without any clear water, I do not think I
ever saw one in broad daylight. At night they visit all kinds of
jln'ls, and even rice-fields, but in the day time they are generally
only found in considerable pieces of water, sprinkled over with
islets of floating weed, amongst the leaves of which they can
snooze unnoticed.
Long ago I said, writing from Sindh :—" It is curious how particular
ducks affect particular broads, or dhunds as they are called
in Sindh. In one dhund, the great mass of the fowl are Fuligula
nyroca ; this will be one much covered with the more or less dry
leaves of the lotus. In another, Q. angustirostris predominates ;
here there will be a vast quantity of green rush, making the whole
lake look like a meadow ; in open, clear-water dhunds of moderate
size, Fuligula ferina will be in a majority, while, where there
is a vast expanse of open water, Fuligula rufina and cristata
will outnumber all the other kinds many fold. Shovellers and
Shelldrakes (and precious wary these latter always are) sneak
along the edges, while Mallard like to sit round the roots of
the tamarisk bushes, thousands of which stand far out into
some pieces of water. What the Pin-tail seem to prefer are
pieces of comparatively open water, dotted about with small
patches of a long-leaved water-plant, a Sagittaria I think, which
rises about four inches above the surface, in amongst which they
sit, completely hidden when asleep, even at a few yards distance,
and with their brown and inconspicuous heads, and a little only
of their white necks showing when they are looking about them.
The Manchar is an epitome of every description of broad, and
accordingly in different parts of its huge expanse different
species predominate ; only the Coots everywhere swarm in
* So Dr. Scully reports :—" The Pin-tail is the commonest of the Duck tribe in
the Nepal Valley in winter. It is most abundant from September to November and
in March and April, but it is to be found in the valley throughout the cold season.
THE TIN-TAIL. 191
myriads, and make, in rising on the sudden discharge of a gun,
a noise like the roaring of mighty waters."
It follows that the Pin-tail is very locally, and, as it seems at
first sight, arbitrarily distributed.* You may shoot a beautifully
watered tract teeming with many kinds of fowl, and yet not
see a Pin-tail; while again elsewhere the whole place swarms
with them ; and if sportsmen are about, large flocks of them are
constantly seen darting by at more than railway speed, high out
of shot, over head, conspicuous by their long pointed tails, long
necks, and white breasts. In one respect they have the pull
over Gadwall. I have repeatedly found them on the sea coast,
while I have never seen the Gadwall in India on salt water.
Eminently gregarious, it is unusual to find them in pairs or
small parties. Commonly they are in good-sized flocks of from
20 to 200 ; but I have seen flights far exceeding this latter number
even, and once at night a flight passed over me, (and there
is no mistaking the low, soft, hissing swish of Pin-tail) which
must have numbered thousands.
It is worth noting, because it is a peculiarity almost confined
to this species, that during the cold season one continually
comes across large flocks consisting entirely of males. I cannot
say that I ever noticed similar flocks of females, but this may
be because the females do not attract the eye similarly, and ate
not equally readily discriminated at any distance, but " bullpic
nics" I have noted, times without number, as a speciality of
the Pin-tail.
Their flight is extremely rapid, more so, I think, than that of
any species that visits us. They are shy and wary, and leave a
jhil almost at the first shot, or if they do hesitate to change
their quarters, circle round and round high out of shot. There
is no driving them backwards and forwards from one piece of
water to another, or one part of a lake to another, over sportsmen
concealed behind screens, or in rush clumps. You may kill a
brace or so, but directly they begin to find that shooting is
going on in earnest, off they go, probably not to alight again for
several miles. Then, too, the plumage is very dense, especially
on the breast. It is always wrong to fire at fowl coming towards
you—you should always let them pass before drawing the trigger
—but it is especially so in the case of Pin-tail, whose breast
feathers will turn comparatively heavy shot at very moderate
distances.
* Thus Mr. Davidson writes :—
occasions ""jf T ™t * If* D l'c k i n t h e D e c c a n ' t l l O Teh
1 have shot it on several
S c k t r i S . " ' M y S ° r e ' "s™™*.™* was much the commonest of all
of Aem ttU" "Pi„ , 0 ! i t h e m , h V " y and M r ' V i d a I c a a only say
Duck Ground'at iT • ? e l o ? \ S M " "> s»me years in small P a r t i e s i a <he large
lateanfgo early J l m C " ° n °f V a s h i s h t i a n d T a E b u d ' "vers. Bat they onre