18G IXDIAN DUCKS. 



coloration in the feathers. As reoards the reassuniption of the niah' 

 plumage he savs : — '• At the annual autumn moult the males ao-ain assume 

 with their new plumage the colours peculiar to their sex, but tlie assum])ti()n 

 is gradual. White spots first appear among the brown feathers on the front 

 of the neck ; by the end of the second week in October the front of the neclc 

 and breast is mottled Avith l)rown and white ; at the end of the third week 

 in Octoljor a few I)rown spots only remain on the wliite." 



Both my birds were obtained in the third week of C)ctober, and are in 

 the plumage ascribed by Yarrell to that of the second week : the heads are 

 entirely like those of the female. 



The breeding-range of the Pintail is practically tliat of tlie Gadwidl, 

 but it reaches further north, and, on the other hand, does not reach so 

 far south ; for whereas the Gadwall Ijreeds as far south as the 4Gth degree, 

 Hume places the limit for the Pintail 10 degrees higher uj). It breeds 

 in Northei'n Europe, and eggs and young haye been found in the north 

 of the British Isles themselyes, and extends thence throughout Xorthern 

 Asia. 



The nest is a rather rough loose structure of grasses, flags, rushes, and 

 similar material, lined, not yery thickly as a rule, with down and feathers ; 

 and the eggs are generally laid in early May, though the date depends a 

 great deal on the locality : in its southern limits the eggs may be laid as 

 early as the end of April, and in its northern from A])ril to August. The 

 earliest eggs taken by Seebohm in Siberia were on the 5th of June. He 

 also describes the nest as being placed " in the grass among the shrubs in 

 dry places, generally at some distance from the water ; they were deep 

 and well lined with dead grass and sedo-e, and, when the full clutch was 

 laid, contained plenty of down." During the breeding-season, i. e. April 

 to August, the Pintail haunts swamps and marshes which are more or less 

 coyered with vegetation — the pools, such as there are of open water, being 

 confined to patches here and there, surrounded with bush, forest, or other 

 coyer. 0})en waters, such as lakes, rivers, or similar pieces of water, it 

 avoids altogether ; nor is it any use hunting the banks and margins of such 

 for the nests, which will almost invariably be found in the places first 

 mentioned. 



Morris, in ' Nests and Eggs of British Birds/ says : — " Of this species, 

 also, the nest is placed by the margin of, or at no great distance from, 

 water, lakes, ponds, and seas, and is composed of grass and reeds with a 

 little lining of down. Some have been found in ditches and even in 

 standinti" corn ; it is always well concealed. 



