136 DUCK SHOOTING. 



in the middle of June, the young not yet having made 

 their appearance. 



The pintail is not very abundant in autumn on the 

 New England coast, though it is found occasionally in 

 Maine and Massachusetts, and in somewhat greater 

 abundance in Connecticut, where it is known as pheas- 

 ant. On Long Island it is more common during the 

 migrations, and when we reach the coast of Virginia 

 and North Carolina it is one of the abundant ducks. 

 Here it often associates with the mallard and black 

 duck, and when the birds fly to and fro from their feed- 

 ing grounds, a small bunch may contain four or five 

 mallards, two or three black ducks and an equal number 

 of pintails. On the other hand, little flocks made up 

 only of pintails are often seen. 



In the first volume of the "Water Birds" Dr. Brewer 

 gives the following abridgment of Mr. Kennicott's ac- 

 count of the pintail in the north : "The summer home 

 of the pintail is within the Arctic region, farther to 

 the northward than that of any other of our fresh- 

 water ducks, comparatively few breeding south of 

 Great Slave Lake. In their spring migrations to the 

 northward they move in immense flocks, which only dis- 

 perse upon their arrival at their breeding grounds. A 

 few reach that lake about May i, but the main body ar- 

 rive about a week or so later, and mostly pass directly 

 on across the lake to the northward. On the Yukon 

 the first specimens were seen in the latter part of April, 

 and before the loth of May they had arrived in im- 

 mense flocks, which remained some time together in 



