THE PINTAIL AS A SCOTTISH BREEDING SPECIES 37 
(Et. PINE AS An SCO SE Dw: ED LNG 
SRE CIES 
By EVELYN V. BAXTER and LEONORA JEFFREY RINTOUL. 
THE Pintail appears to have found more difficulty in getting 
a foothold as a breeding-bird in this country than either the 
Wigeon or Shoveler (Scoz. Waz., 1920, pp. 33 and 155). It only 
seems to be really established in three places in Scotland— 
7.¢., Loch Leven, Orkney, and Shetland ; its breeding elsewhere 
in Scotland is of a singularly sporadic nature, both as regards 
place and time. We would urge upon all Scottish ornithol- 
ogists to watch for this duck’s appearance, as we feel sure 
that it is overlooked, and in view of the sporadic nature of 
the breeding records now before us, we should not be surprised 
if it appeared in any part of Scotland. Unfortunately, the 
two earliest records of the Pintail nesting in this country are 
not altogether satisfactory; we shall therefore not include 
them in the chronological list, but shall give them for what 
they are worth in the detailed accounts under areas. 
The distribution of the Pintail outside Scotland presents 
features of considerable interest. There appears to be no 
satisfactory or really authenticated record of its having 
nested in recent years in either England or Ireland, though 
there are old records which lead us to infer that it may have 
bred occasionally in these countries in times gone by. It 
goes farther into the Arctic than many of our other breeding 
duck: it “inhabits the greater part of the northern hemi- 
sphere, and breeds in both the Old and New Worlds from 
about 72°N. latitude, southwards to about 50° N.; also in 
southern Spain, the Rhone delta and Hungary. In winter 
it ranges to North Africa, including Egypt and southern 
Abyssinia; also to India, Ceylon, Burma, China, Borneo, 
and even the Hawaiian Islands. In America it winters in 
Panama and the West Indies” (4.0.U. Handlist, p. 174). 
Bearing this distribution in mind we would expect the 
colonisation of Scotland to have come from the north or 
north-east; but the data available are so scanty, and the 
