PINTAIL. NATATORES. QUERQUEDULA. 313 



to that manoeuvre, in which case, the bird coming up under 

 the bow of the boat, frequently endeavours to conceal itself, 

 by moving round with it. Like many others of the Anatida 

 (particularly of the species belonging to this group), the 

 plumage of the male Pintail, towards the end of summer, or 

 after the sexual intercourse is completed, undergoes a re- 

 markable change, and becomes very like that of the female. 

 This appears to me to be an actual change of colour in the 

 feathers, rather than a renewal of them ; and the same change 

 is observable in the Mallard, and the males of the Teal, 

 Wigeon, &c. It also prevails, if not in all, at least in some 

 species of the genus Mergus, as I have noticed it in Mergus 

 serrator. The Pintail is easily domesticated, but rarely 

 breeds in confinement. A hybrid progeny has been produced 

 between this bird and the Wigeon ; and, to such an extent do 

 the sexual propensities seem to be affected in this state, by 

 difference of food, and other causes, that MONTAGU mentions a 

 male Pintail in his menagerie, which, for want of the other sex, 

 shewed an inclination to pair with a female Scaup, and even 

 with a Bernacle Goose. He farther adds, that one of them 

 did pair with a tame duck, but that none of the eggs (up- 

 wards of twenty in number) proved to be fecundated. Its 

 usual notes are soft and subdued, but, according to WILSOX, 

 it also frequently makes a chattering noise. The season of 

 courtship is indicated in the male by suddenly raising him- 

 self upright in the water, and bringing his bill close to his 

 breast, uttering at the same time a low soft note. This ges- 

 ticulation is often followed by a jerk of the hinder part of 

 the body, which is then also thrown above the water. The 

 labyrinth of this species consists of a round long bladder, 

 situated on the left side of the arch of the lower larynx ; its 

 upper surface being nearly even with the top of the arch, 

 but its lower one reaching much below it. Its texture is 

 very fine, and in young birds may be indented by slight 

 pressure ; but becomes brittle in adults. The nest of this Nest, &c. 

 species is made in the rushes and strong herbage of marshes, 



