190 , THE PINTAIL DUCK } 
in many parts of England; a tolerable number remain to breed 
with us, especially in the eastern counties. Its distaste for the sea 
disqualifies it for inhabiting the Arctic Regions ; consequently it 
breeds in temperate countries, and flies farther to the south in 
winter, having been observed on both shores of the Mediterranean, 
and in some of the warm parts of India. The extensive drainage 
of our fens and marshes has made it less frequent in England than 
it formerly was; but in Holland and other continental countries it 
is abundant. The nest, usually placed in a tuft of grass, is made of 
dry grass mixed with down which the female plucks from her own 
body, and contains eight or nine eggs. 
The Shoveler is not sufficiently common in this country to claim 
any importance as an article of food, but its flesh is said to be superior 
in flavour even to that of the famous Canvas-backed Duck of 
America. 
The male annually undergoes a moult, or change of feathers, 
similar to that described as taking place in the Mallard. 
THE PINTAIL DUCK 
DAFILA ACUTA 
Two central tail-feathers much elongated, black; head and neck rich dark 
brown ; back and flanks marked with zigzag black and grey lines ; front 
of the neck, and a line on each side, white ; speculum lustrous with green 
and purple, bounded above by reddish brown, below by white ; bill lead 
colour and black. Female—central tail-feathers scarcely elongated ; 
head and neck reddish brown speckled with dusky ; upper feathers dusky 
edged with reddish white ; lower plumage reddish yellow spotted with 
brown ; speculum dull yellowish brown; no white line on the side of 
the neck. Length twenty-six inches. Eggs dull greenish white. 
THE Pintail Duck is a northern bird which visits our shores in small 
parties, during severe winters, and it nests sometimes in Ireland. 
In form it is the most elegant of all the Ducks, and its movements are 
described as being active and graceful. I have never myself had 
the good fortune to see one alive, the only specimen I ever possessed 
having been sent to me from Newcastle-on-Tyne, near which it was 
shot at sea. It is not, however, considered a very rare species, 
as the fishermen on the Norfolk coast, and perhaps elsewhere, are 
well acquainted withit. Yarrell states, that on the coast of Dorset- 
shire and Hampshire it is so well known as to have acquired a local 
name, ‘ Sea Pheasant ’.1_ For this it is indebted to the length of its 
tail, in which respect it differs from all the common Ducks. It 
arrives early in autumn, and remains either on the coast or in the 
inland marshes, until the return of spring; differing, indeed, little 
1 Willughby calls it the ‘Sea Pheasant’, or ‘ Cracker ’. 
