384 TRANSACTIOXS, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 



The male Pintail in perfect adult plumage, as is 

 the example under notice, I reckon to be one of the 

 most elegant of our birds. The body inclines more 

 to length and less to plumpness than is usual with 

 its congeners ; and it is certainly the most rapid on 

 the wing, and in all its actions the most deft and 

 sprightly, of the Anas tribe that has come under 

 my observation. It is remarkable, too, for the 

 delicate softness of its plumage, the refinement of 

 which corresponds with the gaiety and gracefulness 

 of its habits. 



In May, 1884, I shot two which have been 

 recorded in The Birds of the West of Scotland; 

 and on another occasion I had a leisurely oiDpor- 

 tunity of observing, with the aid of a binocular 

 glass, the amours of a pair which I hope had a 

 hapi)ier fate. The birds were feeding in a lakelet, 

 which has now, as the world goes, been civilised 

 out of existence. The male was in a frolicsome 

 mood; and no Robin-redbreast — beyond all others 

 the gentleman of the land-birds — no Phalarope or 

 Bittern, which vie with each other for the gentle- 

 manship of the wading - birds — was ever more 

 sprightly or accomplished than this gentleman of 

 diving -birds, who serenaded his mate while he 

 gamboled in the water as if for the fun of the 

 thing. Now silent, with tail erect — now garrulous, 

 with his beak stuck quaintly in the feathers of his 

 neck, and his body raised out of the water, as if 

 standing on the point of his long tail — noAV uttering 

 a mellow sound inhaled from the air rather than 

 emitted from his throat — now mewing like a kitten 

 before it has seen the light, and jerking his head 

 in the manner of a man with a "habit" — he gaily 

 disported himself, conscious of no other auditor than 

 his proud but passive mate. 



