PINTAIL DUCK. 381 



does not appear to linger long in the northern portions of 

 our islands, and cannot in fact be called abundant there ; 

 but along our southern shores and estuaries it is not un- 

 conamon. Rodd states that in the winter of 1853, thirty- 

 seven Pintails were bagged at one shot with both barrels of 

 a heavy shoulder-gun, out of an unusually large flock at 

 Helford in Cornwall ; and the species is a regular visitant on 

 the coast of Dorsetshire and Hampshire, particularly from 

 Poole Harbour to Lymington, where, as in many other 

 places, it is called the Sea Pheasant, on account of the 

 length of its tail, and where it is seen in small flocks during 

 winter. It occurs also irregularly in the marine and fenny 

 districts of the eastern counties ; but Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., 

 says that at the present day it is scarce in Norfolk, even in 

 winter, although the allusions made by Hunt to specimens 

 in Norwich market in June and July, seem to indicate breed- 

 ing in former times. The figure of the male on the foreground 

 in the illustration of the species here given, was taken from 

 a fine specimen killed in Cambridgeshire, in the collection 

 of the late Dr. Thackeray, Provost of King's College. In 

 Northumberland it is decidedly rare, but Mr. John Hancock 

 thinks that before the drainage of Prestwick Car, some used 

 to nest there. In Wales, and on the western side of Eng- 

 land, it appears to be uncommon. 



In Scotland, according to Mr. R. Gray, it has occurred in 

 almost every county, especially on the east coast ; although 

 nowhere an abundant species. It has even been supposed by 

 Mr. Harvie-Brown to have nested on the island of Hysgeir, 

 and in Sutherlandshire, but as yet the evidence, founded on 

 the down in the nests, is not conclusive;* and only two 

 occurrences in the Outer Hebrides are recorded by Mr. R. 

 Gray. Orkney and Shetland appear to be visited by this 

 Duck, but Saxby says that to the latter it seldom comes 

 except after stormy weather in spring ; and he adds signifi- 

 cantly, and probably with reference to its reported abundance 

 in Orkney, that the bird generally known as the ' Pintail ' is 

 the Long-tailed Duck. 



* Pr. R. Phys. Soc. Edinb. vii. pp. 173, 174, 176. 



