ANATIDJB THE SWAINS, GEESE, AND DUCKS. 149 



strenuously endeavored to work northward during February, 



in 1884 A few ducks of this species spent most of 



the winter of 1884-'85 at Shawneetown, 111. The only record 

 of their wintering farther north than Shawneetown was received 

 from Mr, W. B. Hull, of Milwaukee, Wis. Mr. Hull writes: 



"For about a week the whole bay was frozen over, with ice 

 from 12 to 14 inches thick. During this time the pot-hunters 

 butchered numbers of Pintail Ducks. The ducks were half 

 starved, and would allow a man to approach within 20 feet of 

 them. Ice-men were cutting ice close to the shore, and ducks 

 came right among them to get to the open water. A friend 

 who was on the ship Oneida during her twenty-five days in the 

 ice, said that the ducks (Pintails mostly, but a few 'northern' 

 ducks, he did not recognize) were 'frozen in.' When walking 

 on the ice near the boat, he saw hundreds of ducks in a solid 

 casing of ice. In the winter of 1873-'74, they were killed in the 

 same way." (CooKE.*) 



"The following valuable notes relative to the summer distri- 

 bution and breeding of this duck are abridged from the papers 

 of my late esteemed friend, Robert Kennicott: In America the 

 summer home of the Pintail is within the Arctic regions, farther 

 to the northward than that of any other of our fresh-water 

 ducks, comparatively few breeding south of Great Slave Lake. 

 In their spring migrations to the northward they move in im- 

 mense flocks, which only disperse upon their arrival at their 

 breeding-grounds. A few reach that lake about May 1 ; but the 

 main body arrive about a week or so later, and mostly pass 

 directly on across the lake to the northward. On the Yukon 

 the first specimens were seen in the latter part of April; and 

 before the 10th of May they had arrived in immense flocks, 

 which remained some time together in that vicinity before pass- 

 ing farther north or separating to breed. At this time the 

 birds were fat, and their flesh delicious, much superior to that 

 of any other duck, except the Widegon. At the Yukon the Pin- 

 tails are the latest in nesting of any of the fresh-water ducks, 

 and generally hatch a week or two after the Mallard. He found 

 them breeding in the same grounds, and at about the same 

 time, with Fulix affinis, though they do not associate with that 



* Bird Migration in the Mississippi Valley, pp. 68,69. 



