streaks, paler on th.e forehead ;. sides of thè head and .throat
brown, with minute dusky specks tinged .with ferrugin®#«*
the front and sides, of the neck brown; with, dusky .{black
spots, which are minute on the upper part, becoming larger
by-degrees, downwards, where they are also more distinct«?
IllOi breast and vbelly- very- paleA rewn. with more distant
dusky spots ; the.,back and "scapulars dusky-black,; with pale
margins, each feathér having a transverse bar gf^ white near
the tip ; the longer scapulars are only' margined with., rufous
white, and some are powdered with white! the rump,•..like
the back, but these feathers gradually ^ose^the white bar, as
they approach^ the tap^- so that the ,fai^co’yfrfesvüare' - only
margined with white; the feathers,.on the- sides of the b.ody
being large, have _ broad margins, |ff|lh the; middle , d|Él^
black, in which is either a •. ferruginous white bar,- or ;.two
spots, one.on each side of the shaft; theprime^pdllS iddskp
grey as usual; the speculum changeable greeh, |pi<c;öpper;
tipped with white, a violet bar dividing the-green from .the
white; the first ter-tial is brow-n on .the inner- webjogrey on
the outer near the shaft, and a broad margin of violet ;.-4hé
rest. of th’e tertials are brown, hashed with;.ciner^ops^,black
near, the-: shafts';' .thekfeo verts éfrthe wings‘plain- dark cinereous-,
the largest"series-tipped with.bay; the tail cons,%t-s"©f sixteen
dusky feathers, dashed with cinereous,: gradually, becoming
darker towards the middle feathers, which rather Exceed, .the
next in length, making the tail regularly cuneiform ; : yent,
and under tail-coverts rufous white, with distant black, Spots ;7
At the annual autumn moult the males again assumè with
their new feathers the-colours peculiar to their sex, but thé
assumption is gradual. White spots first appear among the
brown feathers on the front of the neck ; by the end óf the
second week in-October the front, of,.the neck .and breast is
Inottled with brown and white; at the end of the third is$$ek
in October a few brown spots only remain on the.whited
These birds form their nests in rushes and stronGg herbaOg ef,
producing seven or eight’ eggs, which are greenish white in
colour;-and rather ridltongat'ed^in. form, measuring two inches
onC-line inlengtb,^y$$ae*4fchJ five lines in breadth. Montagu
mentions “ that the notes of the Pintail are extremely
ifeoft’iaïnd inward ; the courting noté1 is always attended with
a jerk of the head ; the other greatly resembles that of a very
young*kitten. In fhe^spling- the male Pintail indicates his
feelings by suddenly raising' his body upright- in the water, and
bringing his bill eldselto« his breast, uttering at the same time,
a. soft nbtfe • ’ This • gesticulation is frequently followed by a
Angular jerk; of the hinder part of the body, which in turn is
thrown up aboVe the water. Montagu mentions also that
Pintails have bred in confinement,;and Lord Stanley informed
him he had a hybrid brood produced two seasons following
between* a female Pintail and :a male Wigeon ; the hybrid
birds iai^te^gs^during two âtideesèiye' seasons, but they
werer unproductive* In December 1831, thé Honourable
\W#iselt'on Fiennes exhibited at* tie;'* Zoological-^Society a
specimen of a hybrid Duck, bred;ibeiween a male Pintail and
a common Duck. I t was one of a brood of six, several of
which-wfeïre-subsequently confined with-the male Pintail from
-which they sprung, and produced young. A specimen of a
female of this- second brood was also -exhibited.—Zool. Proceedings^
1831, page~M8. «
lltT-he Pintail has been killed occasionally in different parts
"of Ireland in winter. -It is rare in Wales, Cornwall, and
Devon ; more* common on the coasts of Dorsetshire and
Hampshire, particularly from Poole harbour to Lymington,
whére it is called the Sea Pheasant," on account of the length
of its tail, and where it is ! seen in small flocks during winter.
It Occurs also occasionally in the marine and fenny districts
of thé eastern-! counties. The figure óf the male on the foreground
in the illustration of the species' here given, was taken
VOL. III. M