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man. The male and female differ bub little in plumage — both being of 

 a light grey colour above, and mottled with dark specks underneaih. 

 The wiugs are marked with a lai-ge patch of light blue, from which 

 feature it gets its name. lu shape and general contour it is precisely 

 similar to the black duck, and in habits much the same, both delighting 

 to feed along muddy shores. These birds are ver}' niimerous in Mani- 

 toba and the North-West, where very few of our black ducks are to be 

 met, although mallards are extremely abundant. Like the green wing 

 the blue wing has a harsh discoi'dant voice, hence its latin designation, 

 discors. Next to the eider duck perhaps the blue winged teal may be 

 said to fly with greater velocity than any other. Going dovv'n the wind, 

 it sometimes puzzles the quickest hand to get the muzzle in the right 

 place. I have seen oiie of these biids killed dead — and that is a 

 sporting phi-ase — fall and strike the water twenty yards beyond a 

 perpendicular descent. Like the black duck, the wood duck, the 

 mallard, and the green winged, the blue wing is fond of sitting on logs 

 or on shore in some secluded spot in the heat of the day, at which time 

 it is ijiuch more difficult to approach than when found feeding or 

 listlessly sitting on the water. Next in order, or perhaps among the first 

 that ought to have been mentioned in the list of non-divers, is the pintail 

 (Bq/ikc acuta), the most elegantly formed and most graceful of all ducks. 

 The male pintail is a beautiful bird. Its colour is a variegated grey on 

 the back and sides, belly white, head a rich brown with a white 

 line on each side, commencing at the back of the neck and widening 

 with a gi-aceful curve into the white plumage of the bl-east. The pure 

 whiteness of the belly terminates against a black velvety Vjar underneath 

 the root of the tail. The beauty spot on the wing is black, striped 

 with fine lines of white formed of loose crest-like feathers. The female 

 is simply a sober grey colour, of a much more beautiful hue, however, 

 than that of the female mallard. These elegant birds are I'are visitors 

 here, being only occasionally seen in spring during high floods, and in 

 the fall. Their habits are similar to what I have already mentioned as 

 the characteristics of the non-diving varieties. I may mention here that, 

 three yeai's ago, I shot a magnificent specimen of the male pintail, at 

 the mouth of Brigham's Creek, which I have had stuflfed and set up, 

 and which, for style and beauty, it would be difficult to sur])ass. The 



