! 



PINTAIL DUCK. 255 



taken on the 19th of August: "Bill as usual; top of 

 the head, and from thence down the back of the neck, 

 dusky and pale ferruginous, intermixed in minute streaks, 

 paler on the forehead ; sides of the head and throat brown, 

 with minute dusky specks tinged with ferruginous ; the 

 front and sides of the neck brown, with dusky black spots, 

 which are minute on the upper part, becoming larger by 

 degrees downwards, where they are also more distinct ; 

 the breast and belly very pale brown, with more distant 

 dusky spots ; the back and scapulars dusky black, with 

 pale margins, each feather having a transverse bar of white 

 near the tip ; the longer scapulars are only margined with 

 rufous white, and some are powdered with white ; the 

 rump, like the back, but these feathers gradually lose the 

 white bar as they approach the tail, so that the tail- 

 coverts are only margined with white; the feathers on 

 the sides of the body being large, have broad margins, with 

 the middle dusky black, in which is either a ferruginous 

 white bar, or two spots, one on each side of the shaft ; 

 the prime quills dusky grey as usual ; the speculum 

 changeable green, or copper, tipped with white, a violet 

 bar dividing the green from the white ; the first tertial is 

 brown on the inner web, grey on the outer near the shaft, 

 and a broad margin of violet ; the rest of the tertials are 

 brown, dashed with cinereous black near the shafts ; the 

 coverts of the wings plain dark cinereous, the largest 

 series tipped with bay ; the tail consists of sixteen dusky 

 feathers, dashed with cinereous, gradually becoming darker 

 towards the middle feathers, which rather exceed the next 

 in length, making the tail regularly cuneiform : vent, and 

 under tail-coverts rufous white, with distant black spots." 



At the annual autumn moult the males again assume 

 with their new feathers the colours peculiar to their sex, 



