WHITE-FACED PINTAIL 149 



Europe who had the naming of all the creatures, and 

 quite naturally he gave it the name of Bahamensis. 

 And although we know that the duck does not 

 inhabit the Bahamas, but is found throughout South 

 America from British Guiana to Patagonia, and that 

 it is one of the commonest Ducks in Brazil, there is 

 a wise ornithological rule which forbids us, while the 

 world endures, to call it anything but the Bahama 

 Duck or Pintail. I was obliged to give it that name in 

 Argentine Ornithology, but I think readers of this book 

 in South America will henceforth prefer to call it by 

 the name I have given it here* Doubtless there are 

 other Pintail Ducks with white faces, but this has 

 not given a name to any other species. The Brown 

 Pintail is our most abundant species in Argentina, 

 and I have noticed in flocks of great size, sometimes 

 of many thousands, of that duck, that a single White- 

 faced Duck in the flock could be detected at a long 

 distance by means of that same snowy whiteness of 

 the face. 



On the Pampas and Patagonia it is not a common 

 Duck and is almost invariably seen in pairs. I have, 

 however, sometimes seen three or four together. 



