148 BIRDS OF LA PLATA 



damage to the farmers,, coming up in clouds from 

 the river by night to devour the ripe grain. 



In favourable seasons the Pintail is a resident ; 

 but like the Marsh-Gulls, Pigeons, the American 

 Golden Plover, and all birds that live and move in 

 immense bodies, it travels often and far in search 

 of food or water. A season of scarcity will quickly 

 cause them to disappear from the pampas ; and 

 sometimes, after an absence of several months, a 

 day's rain will end with the familiar sound of their 

 cry and the sight of their long trains winging their 

 way across the darkening heavens. 



Their nest is made on the ground, under the grass 

 or thistles, at a distance from the water, and is 

 plentifully lined with down plucked from the bosom 

 of the sitting bird. The eggs are seven or eight in 

 number and of a deep cream-colour. 



WHITE-FACED PINTAIL 



Dafila bahamensis 



Above reddish brown ; feather centres blackish ; tail and upper 

 tail-coverts fawn ; wings slatey black ; broad speculum bronze-green, 

 with fawn margin above and below ; edging of external secondaries 

 fawn; beneath brownish fawn, covered with concealed black spots; 

 throat, cheeks, and front white ; bill dark with a crimson patch at the 

 base in each side ; feet dark ; length 18, wing 84 inches. Female 

 similar. 



SOMEONE in the eighteenth century picked up a dead 

 Duck of an unknown species on the seashore in the 

 Bahama Islands ; it was then sent to a naturalist in 



