368 BIRDS OF THE WEST OF SCOTLAND. 



by any of the shore shooters. A young male, which I examined, 

 was shot on the river Cart, near Glasgow, in January, 1864, and 

 in several other instances stray specimens have come into my hands. 

 In only one case, however, have I been able to trace it in the 

 Outer Hebrides a specimen having been shot on the farm of 

 Milton, in the island of South Uist, by Mr A. Carmichael, in the 

 winter of 1869-70. As a rule, therefore, this bird is found mostly 

 on the east coasts ranging from Berwickshire and East Lothian to 

 the Shetland Islands, where it is found in spring, and again in 

 autumn. In many parts of Orkney it is said to be pretty abundant, 

 especially in Sanday, where it occurs both in the sea and in fresh 

 water. Mr Angus has informed me that a pair of Pintail ducks 

 were seen in the loch of Slains, in Aberdeenshire, on 4th May, 

 1866, and that he shot at a pair (probably the same birds) three 

 days afterwards as they flew up the Ythan, nearly opposite 

 Waterside. Mr Angus also states that he examined an immature 

 male in the collection of Mr John Wilson at Methlic, which had 

 been shot by that gentleman on the loch at Haddo House, on 10th 

 March, 1867. 



The movements of this beautiful duck, which is distributed over 

 the whole of Europe, are described by various writers as quiet and 

 graceful, which indeed any one in looking at the elegant figure of 

 the bird would naturally expect. Audubon, in speaking of its 

 soft and pleasant notes, says that " there seems to be a kind of 

 natural modesty in it which you do not find in other ducks." 

 Both this writer and Wilson give an interesting account of its 

 habits on American waters, where it appears to be very abundant.* 



Although the Pintail is a scarce bird north of the Tay, in 

 Scotland, it would appear to be a native of Iceland. Professor 

 Newton, in his account of the ornithology of that country, appended 

 to Mr S. Baring Gould's 'Scenes and Sagas/ etc., states that 

 according to Faber it arrives on the coast at the end of April, 

 and reaches Myvatn the beginning of May, where it breeds pretty 

 commonly; that it is probably of general distribution throughout 

 the country ; and that it disappears at the beginning of September. 



* Wilson, in his ' American Ornithology,' remarks that " great flocks of them 

 are sometimes spread along the isles and shores of Scotland and Ireland, and 

 on the interior lakes of both these countries," but does not say on whose 

 authority he makes the statement. It could not have been from personal 

 observation. 



