482 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 



of grey in short lines; under tail- coverts bluish 

 black ; legs, toes and webs orange ; claws black. 

 The female has the head and upper part of the 

 neck spotted with dark brown on a surface of 

 pale brown ; the alternate crescentic bands on the 

 lower part of the neck in front dark brown and 

 pale brown, but the bands broader than in the 

 male ; under surface of the body white ; lower part 

 of the neck behind and upper surface of the body 

 brown, the feathers edged with pale brown; wing- 

 coverts brown, with paler margins ; speculum like 

 that of the male ; tail-feathers dark brown, with 

 edges and tips of pale huffy brown and white." Yar- 

 rell, from whom these descriptions are taken, adds 

 that the young birds of the year at the Zoological 

 Gardens, compared with the old birds, are of a more 

 uniform reddish brown colour above, speckled with 

 dark brown ; the middle of each feather is also dark 

 brown. 



Yarrell also says that one of the eggs laid in the 

 Zoological Gardens was of a uniform buffy white 

 colour, tinged with green. 



PINTAIL, Anas acuta. This elegant species of 

 Duck is a tolerably regular, but not very common, 

 autumn and winter visitor to this county, frequenting 

 both the coast and the inland waters in the marsh : 

 this season (1868-69) it has perhaps been more com- 

 mon than usual. It is easily kept in confinement, 

 and is a very ornamental bird. Montagu sa} r s it has 



