INDIAN DUCKS AND THEIR ALLIES. 443 



In the autumn the male bird assumes a plumage similar to that of 

 the female, but can of course always be distinguished at a glance by the 

 presence of the speculum which is wanting in the female. Hume says 

 that he has never obtained any birds in this stage of plumage in India, 

 but in my very small series I have two and have seen several others. 



Yarrel, speaking of this change of plumage, says that it commences in 

 July and is affected partly by change of plumage and partly by actual 

 change of colouration in the feathers. As regards the reassumption of 

 the male plumage he says : '' At the annual autumn moult the mnles 

 again assume with their new plumage the colours peculiar to their sex, 

 but the assumption is gradual. White spots first appear among the 

 brown feathers on the front of the neck, by the end of the second week 

 in October the front of the neck and breast is mottled with brown and 

 white ; at the end of the third week in October a few brown spots only 

 remain on the white." 



Both my birds were obtained in the third week of October, and are 

 in the plumage ascribed by Yarrel to that of the second week, the 

 heads are entirely like those of the female. 



The breeding range of the Pintail is practically that of the Gadwall, 

 but it reacb.es further north, and on the other hand does not reach so 

 far south, for wdiereas the Gadwall breeds as far south as the 46th 

 degree, Hume places the limit for the Pintail 10 degrees higher up. 

 It breeds in Northern Europe and eggs and young have been found in 

 the north of the British Isles themselves, and extends thence throughout 

 Northern Asia. 



The nest is a rather rough, loose structure of grasses, flags, rushes and 

 similar material, lined, not very thickly as a rule, with down and feathers, 

 and the eggs are generally laid in early May, though the date depends 

 a great deal on locality ; in its southern limits the eggs may be laid as 

 early as the end of April and in its northern from April to August. 

 During the breeding season, i.e., April to August, the Pintail haunts 

 swamps and marshes which are more or less covered with vegetation ; 

 the pools, such as there are of open water, being contined to patches here 

 and there, surrounded with bush, forest or other cover. Open waters such 

 as lakes, rivers or similar pieces of water it avoids altogether, nor is it 

 any use hunting the banks and margins of such for the nests which will 

 almost invariably be found in the places first mentioned. 



