DUCKS 



81 



Fig. 95. 



The rest of the under-parts chestnut followed by white, with 



glossy blackish-green tail-coverts. Back dusky brown. In 



" eclipse n (about July- October) the drake 



has the head and neck much like the female, 



and is duller on the under-parts ; but 



wings as in breeding plumage. The 



female has the speculum as the male, the 



wing-coverts grey-blue. Mantle dark 



brown with paler margins. Under-parts 



and head mostly pale Drown with dusky 



brown streaks on breast and flanks, and 



finer streaks on the head. The young much like the drake 



in "eclipse." 



Nest. Place : various meadow, moorland, or marsh, usually 

 but not always near water ; a depression in grass, heather, 

 rushes, &c. Material : grasses, sedges, &c., lined later with the 

 duck's down. 



Eggs. Usually 8-12. Greenish or huffish-grey. Av. size, 

 2*05 x 1'45 in. Laying begins usually April- May. One brood. 



164. Pintail [Dafila acuta (Linnaeus)]. Breeds in Scotland, 

 but local. More numerous as a winter visitor and bird of 

 passage to our coasts, and, less frequently, inland waters. 



Bird. Length 26-29 in., the latter figure being mostly 

 accounted for by the length (some- 

 times 8J in.) of the central tapering 

 feathers in the drake. Speculum of 

 wing patch in both sexes is bronze 

 olive-green, margined in front with 

 bright chestnut, behind with black 

 edged white, and duller in the duck. 

 The drake is recognised by the long 

 central brownish-black pin tail-feathers ; the brown head, 

 throat, and upper neck, the latter cut on each side by a 

 white stripe which broadens as it descends to join the 

 white of the lower neck, breast, and abdomen. Flanks and 

 back delicately patterned with fine close-set wavy parallel 

 lines or vermiculatioris of grey on whitish. Inner secondaries 

 much prolonged and coloured black with brownish-tinted 

 margins. Upper and under tail-coverts black with an adjoining 

 buff patch. In "eclipse," about July-October, the drake 

 becomes much like the duck, but may be distinguished by 

 the grey vermiculations, and the wavy bars of white on the 

 scapulars and back, the latter in the duck being greyish 

 covered with more strongly marked irregular crescents of buff 

 and dark brown. Her scapulars are dusky brown barred 

 rufous. Flanks as back, but paler. Under-parts whitish 



F 



Fig. 96. 



