124 BRITISH BIRDS. WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS 



of the scurvy-grass, (Cochkaria officinalisj, a plant which grows commonly on our 

 eastern sea-board. 



In Minnesota, Dr. P. L. Hatch says that when the ice leaves the lakes and 

 pools, numbers of Pintails visit the mud flats and marshes on the prairie to feed 

 on the tadpoles ; they also frequent the woodlands in search of acorns, insects, 

 snails, and various larvae under wet leaves and rotten wood. On the water they 

 swim in very compact flocks, uttering a low chattering note ; on the wing they 

 also fly in very close order; they are amongst the shyest of water- fowl. They 

 leave the northern portion of this State in which they breed from the middle of 

 October to the end of the month for the south. 



Dr. Cooper, in his " Californian Notes," describes them as very noisy, quacking 

 much like a Mallard, but more subdued, diving but little and feeding on vegetable 

 food. The late Mr. Robert Kennicott says they go further north on the American 

 Continent than any other of the fresh-water Ducks few breed south of the Great 

 Slave Lake. In spring they move in immense flocks, a few reach the lake on 

 May ist, the bulk go northward. On the Yukon the first were seen at the end 

 of April ; they are the last to nest of the fresh-water Ducks. The nests were 

 always found in low but dry ground, under shelter of trees and bushes, though 

 never among thick large trees, and not more than two or three rods from water, 

 they never build on hummocks in the water, nor on high land, but always just 

 upon the edge of a marsh or lake. In observing the breeding and habits of this 

 Duck, Mr. Kennicott was struck with the persistence in the individuals of each 

 species choosing precisely similar localities for their nests as far as possible, 

 (" Water Birds of America.") To the Long Island fowlers they are known as 

 " Sprig-tails," or " Spindle-tails." Their flesh is much esteemed, and they become 

 very fat after feeding in the marshes on the roots of equisdum. 



Mr. E. Adams ("The Ibis," 1878, p. 431) says they were the first to arrive 

 at Michalaski, in Norton Sound, (April 28th), and the only fresh- water Ducks that 

 were numerous. The natives, he says, use the long tail-feathers to ornament the 

 wooden shades which they wear over their eyes in summer. 



Mr. E. W. Nelson (" Cruise of the Corwin ") thinks it the most abundant 

 fresh-water Duck found on the coast of Bering's Sea and the Arctic shores to the 

 north, and that it nests in the greatest abundance all along the coast from the 

 peninsula of Alaska to near Point Barrow. They are considered the finest table 

 Duck in the north. They are among the last to leave in the autumn, and, as in 

 Europe, they are back when the open spaces of water begin to shew along the 

 ice-fringed shore. 



