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THE PINTAIL DUCK. 

 Anus acvta, Linn. 



PLATE CCXXVII. Male and Female. 



The first observation that I made on arriving at Labrador, was that 

 no species of Ducks, excepting those which were entirely or chiefly ocea- 

 nic, seemed to resort to that coast, and I left the country with the same 

 impression. We saw no Mallards, Teals, Widgeons, or Wood Ducks 

 there ; nor any species of Merganser, excepting the Red-breasted, which is 

 a marine bird. The Pintail Duck, then, was not seen in the parts of that 

 country which I visited ; nor was it known in Newfoundland, on the 

 Magdeleine Islands, or in the British province of Nova Scotia, at least 

 along its Atlantic boundaries. In Kentucky and the whole of the West- 

 ern Country, where it is extremely abundant in early autumn, during 

 winter, and up to a very advanced period in spring, you meet with k 

 wherever its usual food is found. It follows the waters of the Mississippi 

 to New Orleans, is seen westward in the prairies of Oppelousas, and ex- 

 tends to the eastward as far as Massachusetts, beyond which, like the 

 Mallard, it is very seldom seen. Indeed, this species is at aU times rare 

 on the sea coast of America, and must therefore be considered as an in- 

 land bird. 



The Pintail, which, in the United States, is better known by the name 

 of Sprigtail, arrives on the western waters early in October, sometimes 

 even about the middle of September, the period of its arrival depending 

 on the state of the weather, or the appearance of other species, with which 

 it keeps company. Their plumage is in fine condition when they arrive ; 

 their tail-feathers are then as long as at any other period, and the whole 

 apparel of the adult birds is as perfect as in the breeding season. 



On the water, few birds exhibit more graceful motions than the Pin- 

 tail Duck. Its delicately slender neck, the beautiful form of its body, 

 and its pointed tail, which it always carries highly raised, distinguish it 

 from the other species with which it may associate. There seems also a 

 kind of natural modesty in it which you do not find in other ducks, and 

 its notes, which are often heard, are soft and pleasant. That these notes 

 should ever have been compared to those of the Mallard, appears to me 



