DAFILA ACUTA. 18.'^ 



may often be seen in the transition-stage, between the mottled coloi-ation of the 

 female and the fine stippling of the male ; the lower plumage is the next to change, 

 though the broad mottled plumage of the lower flanks is often I'etained for 

 some time ; and, finally, the dark head and \^hite neck of the adult male is assumed. 

 Young females are very thickly speckled and mottled on the lower surface. 



Toung birds of both sexes appear to have legs and bills a uniform dusky. 



" Young in down have the same pale spots on the upper parts as those of the 

 Mallard, but the white on the throat and belly is slightly suffused with grey 

 instead of buff, and in addition to the dark line passing through the eye, a 

 second line passes from the lores below the eye to the nape." (SeeboJim.) 



SalvaJori gives the habitat thus : — " Northern Hemisphere, breedin<;" 

 in the northern parts, and migrating southwards to Northern Africa, India,, 

 Ceylon, China, and Japan, and in America as far as Panama and Cuba." 



There is practically no portion o£ the Indian Empire which the Pintail 

 does not visit ; Hnme excluded it from South Tenasserim, but it has now 

 been recorded thence more than once, though it appears to be very rare 

 there. Davidson reported it as rare in the Deccan (some writers have 

 found it less rare than he did) ; and Yidal says : — " Pintails are to be seen 

 in some years in small parties in the large duck ground at the junction of 

 the Vashishti and Fagbudi rivers (South Konkan), Imt they come late and 

 go early.'' 



Taken all round, the Pintail is one of the most common of Indian 

 ducks, occurring sometimes in huge flocks, but more often in such as 

 number 40 to 60 individuals. It is but rarely very small flocks are seen 

 and solitary birds or pairs hardly ever. Where they are least common, 

 flocks of only twenty or so may be met with frequently, but this is about 

 the minimum number. As regards the maximum number, it is hard to 

 give figures, but Hume speaks of thousands in a flock, other writers of many 

 hundreds in a flock. I have, myself, both in Bengal and Assam, seen 

 flocks which must have contained from 300 to 500 birds, although such 

 are not o£ common occurrence. G. Reid, in his '^ Birds of the Lucknow 

 Civil Division" ('Stray Feathers'), spenks of them l)eing " genei'ally met 

 with in immense numbers," but he does not define what he means l)y 

 immense. 



Most sportsmen would place the Pintail before all other ducks. As a 

 rule they are extremely shy, wary birds, and are very hard to api»roach 

 within gun-shot, but one or two people have found them to be quite the 

 contrary ! Ca})tain Baldwin says that he found it an easy bird to apju-oach 

 even when feeding on open pieces of water. This is somewhat confirmed 

 by the fact that in Cachar tlic natives tell me that they can get at Pintails 



