PINTAIL. NATATORES. QUERQUEDULA. 313 
to that manceuvre, in which case, the bird coming up under 
the bow of the boat, frequently endeavours to conceal itself, 
by moving round with it. Like many others of the Anatide 
(particularly of the species belonging to this group), the 
plumage of the male Pintail, towards the end of summer, or 
after the sexual intercourse is completed, undergoes a re- 
markable change, and becomes very like that of the female. 
This appears to me to be an actual change of colour in the 
feathers, rather than a renewal of them; and the same change 
is observable in the Mallard, and the males of the Teal, 
Wigeon, &c. It also prevails, if not in all, at least in some 
species of the genus Mergus, as I have noticed it in Mergus 
serrator. The Pintail is easily domesticated, but rarely 
breeds in confinement. A hybrid progeny has been produced 
between this bird and the Wigeon ; and, to such an extent do 
the sexual propensities seem to be affected in this state, by 
difference of food, and other causes, that Monracu mentions a 
male Pintail in his menagerie, which, for want of the other sex, 
shewed an inclination to pair with a female Scaup, and even 
with a Bernacle Goose. He farther adds, that one of them 
did pair with a tame duck, but that none of the eggs (up- 
wards of twenty in number) proved to be fecundated. Its 
usual notes are soft and subdued, but, according to Witson, 
it also frequently makes a chattering noise. The season of 
courtship is indicated in the male by suddenly raising him- 
self upright in the water, and bringing his bill close to his 
breast, uttering at the same time a low soft note. This ges- 
ticulation is often followed by a jerk of the hinder part of 
the body, which is then also thrown above the water. The 
labyrinth of this species consists of a round long bladder, 
situated on the left side of the arch of the lower larynx ; its 
upper surface being nearly even with the top of the arch, 
but its lower one reaching much below it. Its texture is 
very fine, and in young birds may be indented by slight 
pressure; but becomes brittle in adults—The nest of this 
species is made in the rushes and strong herbage of marshes, 
Nest, &c. 
