316 FEATHERED GAME 



''gray duck." This may mean the gadwall, 

 (when they get him, which is all too seldom 

 here) pintail, widgeon, even the ''ruddy," and, 

 were it not that nature has named him so plainly 

 in giving him his chestnut braincase, the red- 

 head, too, would have been placed in the same 

 category. It is not uncommon to have a gunner 

 mention "so many (or perhaps it should be 'so 

 few') gray ducks" in enumerating the results 

 of his day's shooting, and in most cases when 

 the bird is produced it proves to be a female 

 or a young male Pintail. 



In the favored regions of the West where the 

 spring and fall flights of ducks are made in 

 flocks of thousands, and where the shallow pools 

 and prairie lakes are often nearly hidden by 

 the companies of winged tourists, the Pintail 

 is one of the most common birds. It is dis- 

 tributed all over the North American continent 

 and is also found in corresponding latitudes of 

 Europe and Asia, — a universal favorite. 



To the average man, whose acquaintance with 

 the duck family is confined to the noisy wad- 

 dlers seen in the horse-ponds and barnyards 

 through the rural districts, the agile grace and 

 lithe movements of their wild relatives would 



