146 BULLETIN 126, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



At the mouth of the Yukon on June 17, 1914, two nests were found in the center of 

 gome clumps of willows in a marsh. The bushes were growing in a few inches of 

 water through which a heavy growth of coarse grass protruded. About the base of 

 the willows the dead grass of previous years was matted and in this dead grass the 

 nesta were made. This was the wettest situation that I ever knew this species to 

 select in the north. 



As might be expected of an early migrant, the pintail is one of the 

 earliest breeders; in North Dakota it begins to lay by the 1st of May 

 or earlier and we found that many of the broods were hatched by 

 the first week in June. The nest is placed almost any\vhere on dry 

 ground, sometimes near the edge of a slough or pond, sometimes on 

 an island in a lake, but more often on the prairie and sometimes a 

 half a mile or more from the nearest water; it is generally poorly 

 concealed and is often in plain sight. Once, while crossing a tract 

 of burned prairie, I saw a dark object fully half a mile away, which 

 on closer inspection proved to be a pintail sitting on a nest full of 

 half roasted eggs; this was a beautiful illustration of parental de- 

 votion and showed that the bird was not dependent on concealment. 

 A deep hollow is scooped out in the ground, which is sparingly lined 

 with bits of straw and stubble, and a scanty lining of down is 

 increased in quantity as incubation advances. 



My North Dakota notes describe four nests of this species. The 

 first nest, found on May 31, 1901, was concealed in rather tall prai- 

 rie grass on the highest part of a small island in one of the larger 

 lakes. On June 15 we found another nest in an open situation 

 among rather sparse but tall prairie grass, which was in plain sight, 

 the eggs being beautifully concealed by a thick covering of down. 

 Another nest was shown to us by some farmers who were plowing 

 up an extensive tract of prairie and had flushed the bird as they 

 passed within a few feet of the nest; they left a narrow strip con- 

 taining the nest unplowed, but something destroyed the eggs a few 

 days afterwards; this nest was fully half a mile from the nearest 

 water. The fourth nest was on the edge of a cultivated wheat field, 

 near the crest of a steep embankment sloping down into a large 

 slough; the nest was a deep hollow in the bottom of a furrow, 7 

 inches wide by 4 deep lined with bits of straw and weed stubble, with 

 a moderate supply of down surrounding the eggs; it was very poorly 

 concealed by the scanty growth of weeds around it; the eight eggs, 

 which it contamed on June 10, proved to be heavily incubated. 



In Saskatchewan, in 1905 and 1906, we recorded 11 nests of pin- 

 tails, 8 of which were found on one small island on one day, where 

 this species was breeding with large numbers of gadwalls, blue-winged 

 and green-winged teals, shovellers, mallards, baldpates, and lesser 

 scaup ducks. One pintail's nest was prettily located under a wild 

 rosebush among the sand hills near Crane Lake, 1 mile from the 

 nearest creek and 2 miles from the lake. 



