294 



DUCK GROUP 



The other two representatives of the genus Mareca are American. 



Of one of these, commonly known as the American wigeon {Mareca 



ninen'canus), a specimen 

 w as p u I' c h a s e ci in 

 Leadenhall ^Market, 

 London, in the winter 

 of I 837-1 838, while a 

 second was obtained 

 from a game -dealer's 

 shop in Leeds in 1885. 

 Other reputed occur- 

 rences of the species in 

 the British Isles uj) to 

 the close of last cen- 

 tury are untrustworthy. 

 From the true wigeon 

 the American species 

 may be distinguished by 

 the whitish crown of the 



head, the whitish sides of the head and neck marked with black spots, 



and the presence of a green patch extending from behind the eye to 



the nape of the neck. 



AMKKICAN WIGKON. 



Pintail (Dafila 

 acuta). 



Pintail, or, to give them their full title, pin-tailed 

 ducks, form a well-defined group, with one northern 

 and two southern representatives, specially char- 

 acterised by the great elongation and slendcrness of the middle pair 

 of the sixteen tail-feathers ; a rudiment of this feature occurring in 

 teal. The whole bird is of an elongated build, with a specially long 

 neck ; the beak being rather narrower than in the mallard, and 

 somewhat wider at the base than at the tip. while the wings are long 

 and pointed. The European pintail is one of the larger ducks, the 

 drake measuring from 22 to 29 inches long, and weighing from 

 2^ to 2^ lbs., while the duck scales about 2 lbs. 



The elongated middle tail-feathers render the pintail drake an 

 unmistakable bird, but another distinctive characteristic when in 

 the breeding-dress (which is worn for about nine months of the 

 year) is the conspicuous white stripe along each side of the neck. 

 As regards the rest of their plumage, the head and neck are rich 

 brown, darker on the crown of the former and the back of the latter 

 than elsewhere, with a sheen of purjjlc and bronze ; the back and 



