194 



RIVER AND POND DUCKS 



a duck about, as she dodged and circled through the air. In one evolu- 

 tion noticed, the female suddenly made an almost perpendicular climb 

 of about fifty feet, accompanying this maneuver by drawing her head 

 back against her shoulders." 



Like all members of its subfamily the Pintail is a surface feeder, 

 dabbling and tipping, tail in the air, in the shallow marshes, and having 

 an advantage over its fellows as its longer neck allows it to reach down 



better into the deeper places. Its diet 

 is nearly nine-tenths vegetable and its 

 feeding habits are similar to those of 

 the Mallard, except that it spends less 

 of its time feeding on dry land remote 

 from water. Of whatever food is most 

 handy or plentiful at the moment, it 

 will make its meal. A good cross sec- 

 tion of its diet is given by the following approximate percentages: pond- 

 weeds, 28; sedges, 22; grasses, 10; smar tweeds and docks, 5; arrow grass, 

 4; musk grass and other algae, 3; arrowhead and water plantain, 3; 

 goosefoot, 3; water lilies, 3; miscellaneous plant food, 6; total vegetable 

 food, 87 per cent. Molluscs, 6; crustaceans, 4; insects, 3; total animal 

 food, 13 per cent. These figures were compiled from the examination 

 of the stomach contents of 769 birds taken from September to March in- 

 clusive, and from practically all parts of North America. 



On the water, Pintails are graceful, agile birds; their slender necks 

 are held in a curving fashion after the manner of the swans and the long 

 tail of the male points up- 

 ward at an angle that adds to 

 the beauty of his elegant 

 body. They are ever on the 

 alert, quick to take alarm, 

 springing vertically upward 

 from the water like teals; 

 they often bunch closely as 

 they rise, offering a vulner- 

 able target to the gunner in 

 the blind. Pintails are al- 

 ways found in the first bags 

 of the season, together with 

 the Blue-winged Teals and 

 the local Mallards and Blacks. 

 Their speed on the wing and 

 their readiness to come to de- 

 coys endear them to sports- 

 men. They usually approach 

 the decoys from a great 

 height, circling cannily as 

 they watch for the slightest 

 suspicious movement, and not 

 until satisfied that all is well 



