DAFII/A ACUTA 209 



grey lower down ; a white stripe running down each side of the neck to the 

 breast ; back and rump pencilled with black and white; scapulars elongated 

 and some of them tipped with black, the remainder being striped with black 

 and whitish lines along the shafts : the two central rectrices, which project 

 considerably beyond the others, black ; the remaining tail-feathers grey, 

 margined on the outside with white ; primaries brownish-grey ; secondaries 

 forming a bronze-purple speculum bordered above by a pale chestnut band 

 and below by black and white bands ; median and lesser wing-coverts 

 brownish-grey ; lower fore-neck and breast pure white, shading into whitish- 

 grey on the abdomen, and pencilled with black and white on the flanks ; 

 crissum and under tail-coverts black, margined externally with white. 



Iris brown, bill and feet blackish. 



Total lengtli 28 inches, wing 11, culmen 2, tarsus 1-50. 



Adult female, general colour of the upperparts dark brown, the feathers 

 bordered and marked with dull whitish-bufl' ; undei'parts dull white, striped 

 with brown on the al)domen and flanks ; the median rectrices not much 

 longer than the other tail feathers. 



In summer the adult male assumes a dress resembling that of the adult 

 female, but the alar speculum is always retained. 



The Pintail is abundant in Tunisia throughout the winter, and 

 one of the commonest Ducks to be found on the lakes and marshes 

 of the north of the Regency. Like most of the other Anatida it 

 arrives in October and November, and leaves again in February and 

 March, there being no recorded instance of its having nested in that 

 country, or in any part of North-west Africa. Its breeding home is 

 much farther north, but apparently the species has been known to 

 nest in South Spain near Seville, and occasionally in the Venetian 

 districts of North Italy. 



Like the preceding species the Pintail aft'ects fresh-water lakes 

 and marshes more than it does salt-water, but when on migration, it 

 may frequently be met with on estuaries and shallows near the sea. 

 It is gregarious and of sociable habits, being found in large flocks, and 

 often in the company of other species of Ducks, such as Mallards and 

 Wigeons. It flies rapidly and swims with ease and grace. Though 

 generally a silent bird, the male appears at times to utter a rather 

 loud and shrill whistle repeated twice, and the female a low double 

 quack. 



It feeds on the shoots of aquatic plants, seeds, insects, worms, 

 snails and small molluscs. 



This handsome Duck thrives in captivity, and is said to interbreed 

 freely with other surface-feeding species of Duck. 



14 VOL. n. 



