86 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 



advantage its large bill with its highly developed lamella), by means of 

 which it sifts out of the mud and water any and everything eatable. Its 

 flesh is said to be of the very best. 



According to D. G. Elliot "When about the marshes, or moving over 

 the inland lakes and coasting along the shores, the Spoonbill is readily 

 recognized by its flight, which is more like that of a teal, although much 

 less swift, and is performed in an irregular, hesitating kind of way, as if 

 the bird was uncertain just where to go. * * * It is not particularly 

 timid, and will often come boldly up to decoys. * * * j have seldom 

 heard it utter any sound, though occasionally it gives forth a few feeble 

 quacks, but it is usually very silent." 



TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 



Adult male with head and neck all around dull metaUic-green with purplish reflections, 

 the chin, forehead and crown likely to be more brownish and with less metallic color; 

 entire breast, base of neck and scapulars snowy-white, the inner scapulars and back brown- 

 ish-black; rump black; entire belly rich chestnut; under tail-coverts velvet black separated 

 from the chestnut belly by a band of finely barred black and white feathers; a large patch 

 of white near root of tail on each side bordered posteriorly by a patch of metalUc-green; 

 speculum rich metallic-green bordered in front by a broad white band; entire shoulders 

 clear pale blue. 



Adult female similar to the male only as regards the wings, and in these the colors are 

 not so strong. Upper parts grayish brown variously mottled and streaked; under parts 

 brownish-white, the neck streaked and the breast and belly spotted with brown. The 

 young of the year are similar to the adult females, but the pale blue of the shoulders is 

 duller or altogether wanting and the specukun has little or no green. 



Length 17 to 21 inches; wing 9 to 10; culmen 2.60 to 2.90; width at end 1.10 to 1.20. 

 where it is nearly twice as wide as at the nostrils. 



41. Pintail. Dafila acuta (Linn.). (143) 



Synonyms: Spring-tail, Sprig-tail, Spike-tail, Sharp-tail, Pigeon-tail. — Anas acuta, 

 Linn., 1758. — Dafila caudacuta, Steph., 1824. — Dafila acuta, Gray, 1844, and most recent 

 authors. 



The long middle tail-feathers are characteristic of the adult male and 

 the cinnamon wing-bar is a distinctive mark in any plumage. 



Distribution. — Northern Hemisphere. In North America breeds from 

 the northern parts of the United States northward, and migrates south 

 to Panama and Cuba. 



A rather common migrant in Michigan and one of the earliest ducks 

 to come north in the spring (southern Michigan March 15 to 20; returning 

 southward August 20 to last of October). P. A. Taverner writes ''Saunders 

 records it breeding on the St. Clair Flats, but I can find no verification 

 beyond his record published in 1882." Swales (MS. list 1904) says of 

 southeastern Michigan "A common migrant spring and fall, March and 

 April, again October and November. Purdy has seen it at Plymouth. 

 Saunders writes me that he has taken a nest at Rondeau, Lake Erie, and 

 has seen the birds in summer at St. Clair Flats one year, hence the inference 

 in Macoun and Mcllwraith that they breed there. I have never heard 

 of this bird being seen after ]\Iay first." 



Positive proof of the nesting of this species within our limits was obtained 

 by Norman A. Wood during the past summer (1911), at the Charity Islands, 

 near the mouth of Saginaw Bay. ]\Ir. Wood took two young Pintails still 

 unable to fly, and one of the light-keepers on the island remembered see- 

 ing the parent bird in early summer and searching for the nest in vain. 



