90 ANATID^. 



and "the season of courtship" was indicated, as described by 

 Montagu, in the supplement to his ' Ornithological Dictionary ; ' 

 but no eggs were produced. Their ordinary call -note is a 

 peculiar brief whistle, somewhat resembling that of the teal. 

 The shooters state that the cry of the pintail, when wounded and 

 pursued, is like that of the mallard, or duck, though more 

 weak, and that they quack much at such times. 



The pintail seems to be about equally common in Ireland as in 

 England, and more so in both countries than in Scotland. In " the 

 western islands and northern coasts" of the last-named country 

 tlie long-tailed duck is believed by Mr. Selby to have been 

 mistaken for it by those who have recorded the frequency of 

 the species. Mr. Macgillivray remarks, that this bird is not met 

 with in the northern islands f" but in the most recent work upon 

 them it has been noticed as a winter visitant to Orkney ; t — in 

 Sutherlandshire, likewise, it is said to be so, and is enumerated 

 among the wild-fowl frequenting the lochs of Spynie, &c., Moray- 

 sliire, in March. J 



Wilson (vol. iii. p. 95) and Audubon (vol. iii. p. 214) both 

 speak of the pintail as seldom frequenting the sea-coast of Ame- 

 rica, and consider it rather an inhabitant of fresh-water : the 

 latter author gives a full and interesting account of its habits. § 

 A friend, writing from Belvoir Cottage, West Hoboken (New 

 Jersey), in March 1850, inquires, " Why is the pintail omitted, 

 as a species of this continent, in the Prince of Canino^s 'Com- 

 parative Catalogue of the Birds of Europe and North America^ ?" 

 He adds, " It is quite common here, and always to be seen, 

 during the season, in New York market." In Wilson's 'Ame- 

 rican Ornithology,' it is stated to be common, which leads to the 

 inference that the omission alluded to was accidental. 



* ' Manual Brit. Birds/ vol. ii. p. 170 (1846). 



t ' Hist. Nat. Oread.,' p. 76 (1848). 



X St. John's ' Tour in Sutherlandshire/ vol. i. pp. 139 and 195. 



§ Wilson erroneously remai-ks, that "great flocks of them are sometimes spread 

 along the isles and shores of Scotland and Ireland, and on the interior lakes of both 

 these comitries." 



