AMERICAN PINTAIL 189 



American Pintail 



Dafila acuta tzitzihoa 



(Anas acuta tzitzihoa, of Peters) 



(daf-fi-la, a-kii-ta, tzits-ze-h6-a; a-nas) 



Colour Plates Nos. 10 and 11. Downy Young No. 33. Hybrids No. 36. 



SCIENTIFIC NAME 



Dafila, Coues says "a non sense word"; acuta, Latin, meaning acute, pointed, 

 as the tail is; tzitzihoa, the name of a species of duck in the Nahuatl language of 

 Mexico. Originally called "De Tzitzihoa Mare." 



COLLOQUIAL NAMES 



IN GENERAL USE: Grey duck (sometimes meaning only the female and immature); 

 pintail; pintail duck; pinnie; sprig; sprigtail. IN LOCAL USE: Canard gris (grey duck); 

 fall duck; grey widgeon; kitetailed widgeons; longneck; necktwister; paille-en-queue 

 (straw-tail); pent-tail; pheasant; pheasant-duck; picket-tail; pied gray duck; pike- 

 tail; pile-start; pintail widgeon; sea widgeon: smee; smees; smethe; smoker; spike; 

 spike-tail; spindletail; split-tail; spring-tailed widgeon; springtail; sprit-tail trilby duck. 



DESCRIPTION 



ADULT MALE. WINTER PLUMAGE: Head and upper neck, dark brown, glossed 

 with purplish, pink, and green; crown, dusky; hindneck, black or dark brown, 

 shading gradually into grey of foreback; foreneck, white, extending by white stripes 

 on sides of neck into dark brown of head; bill, shorter than head, grey blue, 

 black along ridge, with elongated black spot at base; nail, black; eye, dark brown. 

 Body. Back, inner scapulars and sides, white, vermiculated with black, producing 

 grey effect; outer scapulars, longer, with outer web glossy black edged with white 

 to grey, producing large patch over the folded wing; chest and breast, white hind- 

 breast and belly, white, finely vermiculated with grey; rump, ashy brown; large 

 white or sometimes yellowish patch on either flank, bordered behind with black; 

 feet, greyish blue to olive grey, with dusky webs. Tail, two middle feathers, black 

 greatly elongated and pointed, remaining feathers of tail, brownish grey with light 

 edgings; upper coverts, black with greyish-white inner webs; under coverts, black, 

 margined with white on outer webs. Wings. All coverts, brownish grey, the greater 

 tipped with cinnamon to cinnamon buff; primaries, darker brownish grey, with 

 lighter inner webs; secondaries, with speculum of violet, bronze and green, bordered 

 behind with black then white bars, and in front by cinnamon-buff bar, and in- 

 wardly with black; tertials, long, grey, with glossy black stripes; lining, dusky, 

 with white edgings; axillars, white, mottled with dusky. 



ECLIPSE PLUMAGE: The moult into eclipse commences in June and is complete 

 in August. The full-plum aged wing is renewed. In this plumage males are similar 

 to females except for wings and greater size; even more do they resemble the 

 juvenile male, especially in markings of feathers of back. 



AUTUMN PLUMAGE: From the female-like plumage of the eclipse, the adult 

 male commences, in early autumn, a moult towards full winter dress. The wing 

 is as in winter plumage. In early stages a sprinkling of new vermiculated feathers 

 can be noticed on upper back and sides; with the early appearance of some brown 

 head-leathers, and indications of the Avhite neck-stripe, the bird is soon recognizable 



