PINTAILS AND WIDGEONS. 183 



with the contents of one barrel, so closely do they fly. 

 Once aloft in the air they are a most graceful figure in the 

 landscape; their full length of neck, body and tail, with 

 short and quiet flap of the wings, giving them the appear- 

 ance of a volley of huge arrows against the clear ether. 

 What could awaken more pleasing emotions than scenes 

 like these? 



Concerning the breeding habitat of the Pintail, Dr. Coues 

 says: "Although I have not recognized it in the Missouri 

 region proper during the breeding season, yet I found it to 

 be one of the commonest of the various Ducks that nest in 

 the country drained by the Milk River and its tributaries 

 throughout most of the northern parts of Montana. In 

 traveling through that country in July, I found it on all the 

 prairie pools and alkaline lakes. At this date the young 

 were just beginning to fly, in most instances, while the old 

 birds were for the most part deprived of flight by moulting 

 of the quills. Many of the former were killed with sticks, 

 or captured by the hand, and afforded welcome variation of 

 our hard fare. On invasion of the grassy or reedy pools 

 where the Ducks were, they generally crawled shyly out 

 upon the prairie around, and there squatted to hide, so 

 that we procured more from the dry grass surrounding than 

 in the pools themselves. I have sometimes stumbled ^"hus 

 upon several together, crouching as close as possible, and 

 caught them all in my hands." 



He then adds from Dr. Dall concerning this same species: 

 " Extremely common in all parts of the Yukon, and on the 

 marshes near the sea coast. In the early spring, arriving about 

 May 1st, at Nulato, it is gregarious; but as soon as it com- 

 mences to breed, about May 20th, or later, they are gen- 

 erally found solitary or in pairs. Their nest is usually in 

 the sedge, lined with dry grass, and, in the absence of both 



