THE PINTAIL 229 



on the one hand, and of the juvenile dress on the other. Briefly, in 

 the latter the back is of a dusky hue, marked by short, rather broad, 

 transverse bars of huffish white, and the speculum, devoid of any 

 gloss whatsoever, presents an indescribable blending of brown and 

 grey. In immature birds, at the stage when the coloration has 

 already proclaimed the sex of the wearer, we find similar barrings, 

 associated with strongly marked striations all over the under surface 

 of the body. Later, these bars are retained only by the male in 

 eclipse, but they are then somewhat changed in character, being 

 wavy in outline, and associated with curiously obscure vermiculations 

 recalling those of the supernuptial dress. The female loses all traces 

 of this on attaining maturity, broad Y-shaped loops of buff taking 

 the place of bars ; whereby we may infer that the eclipse plumage 

 of the male answers to an older, more ancestral, livery than that of 

 the female, which has travelled from this stage along a line of its 

 own. But let it not be supposed that we know all that is to be dis- 

 covered of the eclipse plumages of this, or of any others of our 

 ducks. On the contrary, though much has been written on this 

 subject, we are as yet far from being able to recount the full sequence 

 of events in their correct time and place. It would not, indeed, be 

 easy to find a theme in ornithological literature which has been more 

 completely obscured by discussion, and if we are ever to possess 

 ourselves of the facts as to what does take place, the whole matter 

 must be taken in hand afresh. 



In its choice of haunts, as in its choice of food, the pintail has 

 much in common with the wigeon, for while both are to be found 

 on large inland lakes, they seem to prefer rather such areas of fresh 

 water as are within easy reach of the sea, whither they can escape 

 for safety when alarmed, and where they find a safe harbourage when 

 the perils of foraging for food have been successfully braved. Large 

 estuaries perhaps furnish their ideal haunts in these islands, not 

 that they find here any greater plenty of food than elsewhere, but 

 because of the greater security which they afford, for the pintail is 



VOL. iv. 2 G 



