PINTAIL 11 



The female, having a much shorter, though still pointed, 

 tail, and the usual mottled brown plumage of typical ducks of 

 her sex, is less easily recognizable, but she is recognizable on 

 close inspection by having the tail feathers marked with light 

 and dark cross-bars, instead of light-edged and dark-centred as 

 usual, and by having either no wing-bar at all or one, like the 

 drake's, of the unusual tint of bronze. 



The drake in undress has at first a very feminine aspect, but his 

 tail, though short, is still darker than the female's, and his pkimage 

 is rather cross-barred than mottled with curved markings. 



Pintail weigh about a couple of pounds in the case of drakes, 

 ducks being about half a pound less. 



They are among the most valued sporting birds in India, 

 coming in vast numbers every winter, and spreading all over 

 the Empire ; the flocks are seldom under twenty in number, and 

 generally contain two or three times that number of birds, while 

 hundreds and even thousands may be found together. Although 

 so sociable, in some cases flocks ma}' be found consisting of 

 drakes alone. They like large pieces of open water with plenty 

 of surface weed for their day-time rest, and keep a good look-out, 

 being naturally wary ; they do not move till well on in the 

 evening, and then go out to feed in all sorts of watery places, 

 returning at daybreak to their resting-places. They fly, as 

 might be expected, from their slender shape, with very great 

 speed, and are considered to be the swiftest of all the tribe. 

 The sound of a flock passing is described by Hume as a " low, 

 soft, hissing swish," which is quite unmistakable. On the other 

 hand, their swimming and walking powers are but ordinary, and 

 they dive badly. Their long necks are of great service to them 

 in feeding on the bottom with the stern up, and also in reaching 

 up to pull down paddy-ears, for they do not disdain vegetable 

 food, although chiefly animal feeders, especially eating shell-fish; 

 this, however, does not give them an unpleasant flavour, and, 

 as a matter of fact, few ducks are so uniformly good. 



In general disposition they are placid, rather characterless 

 birds ; they are not even noisy, the drake's note being singularly 

 soft and subdued, and very hard to describe ; the duck's quack 

 is harsher than that of the mallard or spotted-bill, but she very 



