PINTAIL DUCK. 367 



Glasgow from west country shootings. Mr Elwes has informed 

 me that it is a rare winter visitor in Islay. In the outer islands 

 it has also occurred several times: one, a male, was shot at 

 Barra in the autumn of 1863; and two specimens male and 

 female were shot by Dr Macrury in Benbecula, in March, 1864, 

 within fourteen days of each other. Besides these, Dr Macrury 

 has informed me that he saw a flock of twelve Gadwalls on a loch 

 in the island of Barra in 1868. 



On the east coast it has been killed on the Tay, and likewise on 

 the Forth; in Aberdeenshire, Forfarshire, Perthshire, and East 

 Lothian. The Earl of Haddington has informed me that in the 

 last named county he shot a specimen in immature plumage at 

 Tyninghame, and that about the same time a pair, male and 

 female, were shot in the river Spey, and taken to Mr Small, 

 bird stuffer, Edinburgh, for preservation. In Orkney, according 

 to Messrs Baikie and Heddle, it has at times been killed in Sanday, 

 but is not a regular visitant. 



Although of unobtrusive appearance, the Gad wall is a beautifully 

 marked bird. It appears to be a very abundant species in some 

 parts of Europe, and common in North America, where its habits 

 have been well described by Audubon. It is not a little strange 

 that Wilson, who travelled over as much of that great country as 

 his successor, was altogether unacquainted "with its particular 

 manners or breeding place." 



THE PINTAIL DUCK. 



ANAS ACUTA. 



ALTHOUGH nowhere a common species in Scotland, the Pintail 

 has occurred in almost every county. It is now many years 

 since I made my first acquaintance with it in East Lothian, 

 where I happened to shoot a brace out of a flock one winter 

 evening as I sat under shelter of a rock on the sea coast near 

 Dunbar. The birds were flying noiselessly in a line, and about to 

 pitch down on a fresh-water stream at its junction with the sea, 

 where I had seen them two nights before: the two I shot were 

 females. 



In the western counties the Pintail is a scarce species, some 

 winters passing without a single specimen being seen or obtained 



