IqS new YORK STATE MUSEUM 



back head; front and sides of lower neck, breast and belly buffy white, a 

 narrow line of the same color running up the sides of the neck between the 

 bronzy brown of the sides of the head and the back of the nape; upper 

 parts in general and flanks waved with grayish white and dusky; longer 

 scapulars black, edged with buffy; upper and under tail coverts black, the 

 upper broadly edged on the inner side with grayish or buffy white ; a white 

 patch on sides of rump; tail feathers gray, except the longer central 

 pair which are black, glossed with darker green; wing coverts plain brownish 

 gray; mirror bronzed green, bordered in front by rufous, behind by blackish 

 and buffy white, inside by black and buffy ; bill blackish edged with grayish 

 blue; feet grayish blue; eyes brown. Female and young: Head and neck 

 dingy white, often tinged with rusty, especially on the top and sides of the 

 head, thickly speckled or streaked with dusky; upper parts brownish 

 black, the feathers with grayish white or buffy or ocherous edgings and 

 broken bars and loops; under parts dingy white or ochery white, mottled 

 more or less with dusky; mirror shows the pattern of the males, but is 

 often only sprinkled with gray as the rufous anterior margin is usually 

 replaced with buffy white. 



Length, male, 26-30 inches; female, 20-24; extent 33-36; wing 9.8- 

 11; tail, male, 5-9; female, 3.8-5; bill 1.85-2.25; tarsus i. 55-1. 68; middle 

 toe and claw 2.25. 



Distribution and migration. The Pintail is a fairly common migrant 

 in the coastal region and more common in the marshes of western New 

 York. As a spring migrant it ranks among the River ducks next to the 

 Black duck in abundance, at least in Monroe and Ontario counties, being 

 slightly more numerous than the Baldpate and like that species is apparently 

 commoner in the spring than in the autumn. On Long Island it arrives 

 from February 15th to March 6th and passes northward from March 24th 

 to April 15th, returning from August 25th to September 20th and passing 

 south from the 19th to the 30th of November. In western New York its 

 arrival is from one to three weeks later, but it is sure to make its appearance 

 as soon as the marshes are free from ice and is sometimes observed as late 

 as the middle of May. In the fall it appears mostly in small flocks or as 

 single individuals from the middle to the last of September, and is last seen 

 from the 25th of October to the 15th of November. It has been found 

 accidentally on Long Island in winter, but spends the cold season mostly 

 from New Jersey, southern Illinois and British Coltombia, as far south as 



