The Pintail 383 



with the reflecting camera as they feed in the small ponds in the marsh. Away 

 they go with a thunder of wings when one steps out from the rushes on the 

 edge, and one may get splendid "shots" just as they spring into the air. Even 

 thus early they are well practised in the long standing jump. 



Maturing so soon, they begin to migrate rather early, so that flocks appear 

 south of their breeding-range in the northern states early in September. Yet 

 they are hardy, for some winter as far north as Long Island Sound, and in 

 various localities they linger until ice forms. They winter on our southern 

 coasts, and down through Mexico to Panama. Early March sees them mov- 

 ing back through the United States again, and by the last of the month 

 some are on their more southerly breeding-grounds. They breed mostly in 

 the interior and western districts, especially in the prairie states, northward 

 from Iowa and Nebraska, commonly in North Dakota, and north to the Arctic 

 coast. Cosmopolitans, they are well known in Europe also. 



Though not given much to quacking, like the Mallard and Black Duck, 

 they utter now and then a subdued quack, but more often express themselves 

 in a soft chattering or low whistle. For the most part I have heard little sound 

 from them, but they are said at times to be noisy. 



Like most ducks in fresh water, the Pintail devours all sorts of insects and 

 small aquatic creatures, snapping eagerly at flies and mosquitos on the wing. 

 It is fond of succulent water-plants, such as wild cherry, eating both roots 

 and seeds, and even of nuts, where these grow not far from the water. Ponds 

 are preferred to streams, and in winter grain-fields, meadows, and even the 

 prairies, have attractions. 



In the West, where there are prairies and marshes, this is one of the most 

 abundant ducks, but in the East it is rather scarce. There, fearful of ever- 

 present persecution, the few that do come to us slip so furtively at night into 

 ponds and meadows that few besides the keenest of gunners detect their pre- 

 sence. How difficult seems the harried fowl in the hunting-season from the 

 beautiful "greyhound of the air" on its breeding-grounds, so gentle when it 

 has less to fear. Would that the new era of Federal protection might make 

 more abundant everywhere this beautiful, graceful wildfowl! 



