LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN WILD FOWL. 145 



become more and more numerous, until tliey are found about, the border of almost 

 every pool on the broad fiats from the mouth of tiie Kuskoquim River north to the 

 coast of Kotzebue Sound. 



Courtship. — The courtship dis})lay of the shy pintail is not often 

 seen, for even on their remote northern breeding grounds the males 

 are ever alert and are not easily approached. The performance 

 resembles that of the teals, where several drakes may be seen crowd- 

 ing their attention on a single duck, each standing erect on the water 

 proudly displaying his snowy breast, with his long neck doubled in 

 graceful curves until his bill rested upon his swelling chest and with 

 his long tail pointed upwards; thus he displays his charms and in 

 soft mewing notes he woos liis apparently indifl'erent lady love until 

 she expresses her approval with an occasional low quack. 



A more striking form of courtship, and one more often seen, is the 

 marvelous nuptial flight, which Doctor Nelson (1S87) has so well 

 described as follows: 



Once, on May 17, while sitting overlooking a series of small ponds, a pair of pin- 

 tails arose and started off, the male in full chase after the female. Back and forth 

 they passed at a marvelously swift rate of speed, with frequent quick turns and evolu- 

 tions. Atone moment tliey were almost out of view high overhead and the next saw 

 them skimming along the ground in an involved course very difficult to follow with 

 the eye. Ere long a second male joined in the chase, then a third, and so on until 

 six males vied with each other in the pursuit. The original pursuer appeared to be 

 the only one capable of keeping close to the coy female, and owing to her dextrous 

 turns and curves he was able to draw near only at intervals. Whenever he did suc- 

 ceed he always passed under the female, and kept so close to her that their wings 

 clattered together with a noise like a watchman's rattle, and audible along distance. 

 Tliis chase lasted half an hour, and after five of the pursuers had dropped off one by 

 one the pair remaining (and I think the male was the same that originated the pur- 

 suit) settled in one of the ponds. 



Nesting. — Mr. F. Seymour Hersey says in his notes on this species 

 in northern Alaska: 



There is probably no place within the breeding range of this widely distributed 

 duck where it is more abundant than on the stretch of tundra bordering the Bering 

 Sea coast of western Alaska. Almost every little tundra pond will contain a few 

 birds — perhaps a pair or a female and two or three males — and parties of two to five 

 or six are constantly fiying from one pond to another. 



The pintail very often makes ita nest fartlier from water than any other of the 

 northern breeding ducks, although the greater number nest near the shores of ponds. 

 Before the set is complete, the eggs are covered with down, intermingled with leaves, 

 sticks, dead grass, and mosses, and the female spends the day at a considerable dis- 

 tance from the nest. Incubation begins only when the set is complete. Early in 

 June, 1911, wliile walking over the tundra some miles back from St. Michael I noticed 

 a few pieces of down clinging to the base of some dwarf willow bushes. It aroused 

 my suspicions and searching among the accumulated dead leaves and moss at the 

 roots of the bush I soon disclosed an incomplete set of pintail's eggs. They were 

 thoroughly concealed and had it not been for the few telltale bits of down would 

 have remained undiscovered. The female later completed this set, and on June 10 

 the nest held nine eges. This nest was at least a half mile from the nearest water. 



