776 II. S. p. R R. EXP. AND SITRVEYS ZOOLOGY — GENERAL REPORT. 



There is but one species of Bafila inhabiting the United States, the D. acuta, though the 

 D. urophasiana is quoted as belonging to our western coast as well as that of South America. 

 The D. bahamensis,^ by some supposed to be the same with D. urophasiana, if really found in 

 the Bahamas, in all probability extends its flight to our southern coast. 



The characters of Dafla acuta are as follows : 



Tail of 16 feathers. Head uniform brown. Neck and beneath plain white. Sides and fore 

 part of back finely lined transversely with black and white. Wing coverts plain, terminated 

 narrowly by reddish buff; then a purplish green speculum passing into black behind, and tipped 

 with white. Scajjulars and tertials streaked with black and hoary whitish. 



DAFILA ACUTA, Jenyns. 



Pintail ; Sprigtail. 



.Jnas acula, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 202.— Gmelin, I, 258— Wilson. Am. Orn. VIII, 1814, f. 2; pi. l.wiii.— 

 BoNAP. Obs. No. 258.— Temm. Man. II, 838, (Europ. sp.)— Ano. Orn. Biog. Ill, 1835, 214 : V, 615 ; 

 pi. 227.— Ib. Syn. 279.— Ib. Birds Amer. VI, 1843, 266 ; pi. 390. 



Phasianiirus aculus, Wagler, Isis, 1832, 1235. 



J]nas (Dafila) acula, Jentns, Man. 1835, 232. Europ. sp. 



Dafila acula, Bon. List, 1838. 



^nas (Boschas) acxda, Nuttall, Man. II, 1834, 386. 



Jlnas caudacuta, (Rat,) Sw. F. Bor. Am. II, 1831,441. 



Dnji/a caii(iacii/a, Stephens, Shaw's Zool. XII, ii, 1824,127. — Jard. Br. Birds, IV, 120. — Eyton, Mon. Anat. 

 1838,113. European. 



Dafila longicauda, Brehm. 



Pintail, Pennant, Arc. Zool. II, 566. — Lath. Syn. Ill, n, 52G. 



Dafila acula, var. .4. americana, Bon. Comptis Rendus, XLIII, 1856. 



Sp. Ch. — Tail of 16 feathers. Bill black above and laterally at the base ; the sides and beneath blue. Head and upper 

 part of neck uniform dark brown, glossed with green and purple behind. Inferior part of neck, breast, and under parts white ; 

 the white of neck passes up to the nape, separating the brown, and itself is divided dorsally by black, which, below, passes into 

 the gray of the back. The back anteriorly and the sides are finely lined transversely with black and white. The wings are 

 plain and bluish gray ; the greater coverts with a terminal bar of purplish butf, below which is a greenish purple speculum, 

 margined behind by black, and tipped with white. Longest tertials striped with silvery and greenish black. Scapulars black, 

 edged with silvery ; crissum and elongated tail feathers black ; the former edged with white. 



Female with only a trace of the markings of the wing ; the green of the speculum brownish, with a few green spots. The 

 feathers of the back are brown, with a broad U or V-shaped brownish yellow bar on each feather anteriorly. Sometimes those 

 bars appear in the shape of broad transverse lines. 



Length, 30 inches ; wing, 11 ; tail, 8.60 ; tarsus, 1 .75 ; commissure, 2.36. 



Hab. — Whole of North America and Europe. 



The young male is sometimes difBcult to recognize when without the long tail, and with the 

 markings those^ in part, of both sexes. 



' The following synonymy is assigned to /inas urophaaianus, though it is most probable that .'?;ins baltamcnsis is a distinct 

 species : 

 Dafila BAiiAMENsif. 



Jlnas bahajunuis, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 199. 



Paecilonella bahamcnsis, LtroN, Mon. Anat. 1838, pi. 112. — Gat, Fauna Chilona. — Cassin, Gilliss' Chile, II, 1855, 203. 



.Inas ilathera, Bonn. 



Jlnas urophuiinnus, Vigors, Zool. Jour. IV, 1829, 357. — Ib. Zool. of Blossom, 1839, 31 ; pi. xiv. 



Dafila urophatianus, Eyton, Mon. Anat. 1838. 



Phaaianurtis vigorsii, Wagler, Isis, 1832, 1235. 



