PINTAIL 



COMMON PINTAIL PINTAIL DUCK. 



PLATE CXC. FIGURE III. 



Anas acuta, LINNAEUS. 



Querquedula acuta, .... MACGILLIVRAY. 

 Dafila acuta, DRESSER. 



THE nest of this species is placed usually in coarse 

 herbage, by the margin of or at no great distance 

 from water, lakes, ponds, and seas, and is composed of 

 grass and reeds, with a lining of down. Though generally 

 a migrant, it breeds sparingly in the British Isles. 



From seven to nine or ten eggs are laid. These are 

 pale buffish green in colour. The young are hatched in 

 about twenty-three days. They at once repair to the water. 



These birds have repeatedly bred in confinement. Mon- 

 tagu has recorded several instances of this. Lord Stanley 

 had a female Pintail which paired with a Wigeon, and had 

 eggs two successive seasons ; the Hon. Twisleton Fiennes 

 another, a male, which paired with a common Duck. 



