WATER FOWL OF INDIA AND ASFA. gt 
down to join the white of the fore-neck, breast and belly ; 
the stern and long tail-feathers are black, and just in 
front of the tail, on the flank, is a yellow -buff patch. 
The wing-bar is bronze-green, with a cinnamon bar in 
front and a white one behind. The scapulars are long, 
and black with pale edges. 
The female is mottled with dark brown and buff or 
white, the markings being particularly clear and dis- 
tinct ; she usually shows no coloured wing-bar, but two 
whitish ones where itshould be. In both sexes the bill 
is black along the middle and grey at the sides, the 
eyes dark, and the feet grey. Young birds have darker 
and more uniformly-coloured bills. 
The male in undress bears a general resemblance to 
the female, but the details of the marking are different, 
the hght bars being nearly transverse, instead of follow- 
ing the outline of the feather ; and he shows the wing- 
bar as in full plumage. The young male appears to 
resemble him in this stage. 
The male is about two feet long, but may be more or 
less according to the development of his long tail-fea- 
thers, which may measure over nine inches; he has an 
eleven-inch wing, bill about two and-a-half inches, and 
shank over one and-a-half. The female is smaller and 
has a much shorter and less pointed tail, though this 
is still long for a Duck, and the transversely-barred fea- 
thers thereof are characteristic of her only. 
Pintails have an exceedingly wide range, being found 
nearly all over the Northern Hemisphere ; in the United 
States they are known as “‘Sprigs.”’ They breed mostly 
near the Arctic circle, nesting on the ground and laying 
greenish-grey eggs, and are only winter visitants to our 
area, occurring throughout India, Burma, and Ceylon. 
They are generally in flocks which are sometimes very 
large, and frequently composed of males only. They 
are remarkably rapid flyers, but do not rise so easily as 
might be expected from their hght build. The male 
