478 Anatidce. 



sometimes known as the ' Gray Duck,' which Yarrell says the 

 term Gadwall is intended to imply; but he omits to explain 

 how. 



188. PINTAIL DUCK (Anas acuta). 



There is no more elegant and graceful duck than this. Of 

 slender form, with thin neck, elongated tail-feathers, and hand- 

 some plumage, it rivals our brightest and gayest birds, whether 

 of land or water. It is common on the southern coast of Eng- 

 land, and in Dorsetshire is known by the provincial name of 

 'Sea-Pheasant,' a sobriquet derived from its prolonged tail 

 It is almost needless to say that the specific name, acuta, also 

 refers to the sharp-pointed tail, which is its chief characteristic. 

 In Germany it is Spiesa-ente 'Spear-duck'; in Swedish, Stjert- 

 And, 'Tail-duck'; and provincially in this country the 'Spear 

 Widgeon,' all having reference to the elongated tail-feathers of the 

 drake. It may be identified at a long distance, and discerned 

 among other fowl, by the snow-white neck and breast.* As 

 regards its excellence for the table, it is placed by Sir R Payne- 

 Gallvvey at the head of the wild fowl, and is said by him to excel 

 all the other ducks and geese in delicacy of flavour. Mr. Cecil 

 Smith,f who keeps it in confinement on his pond, says it obtains 

 its food by tipping its head downwards into the water, after the 

 manner of tame ducks, and that it feeds on the pond-weed and 

 the insects and small mollusca which it picks up with it ; but 

 that he never sees it feed on grass, like the Widgeon, as Meyer 

 asserts. 



I may mention here that in the good old times of yore our 

 ancestors saw the wisdom of protecting this and other valuable 

 birds from wanton destruction at improper seasons ; and by the 

 Code of Fen Laws, or orders for regulating the fens, passed in 

 the reign of Edward YI. (A.D. 1548), it was decreed that ' no 

 person should use any sort of net, or other engine, to take or kill 



* ' The Fowler in Ireland,' pp. 20-22, 50. 

 f ' Birds of Somersetshire,' p. 483. 



