PINTAIL 
323 
Examination of stomachs of birds shot in India, showed that there Pintails feed 
largely on wild rice and small fresh-water shells (Hume and Marshall, 1879). 
In feeding, the Pintail commonly tips up like the Mallard, and it has the same 
habit of treading up the mud with its feet, after which it thrusts down its head to 
secure the food thus dislodged. On the White Nile, Abel Chapman (1921) noticed 
that these and other ducks were feeding in two fathoms of water. So saturated is 
this river with floating vegetation that plenty of food could be obtained in deep 
water either by tipping up or “tugging and guzzling” on drift-weed and floatage. 
Courtship and Nesting. As already noted (under Migration) Pintails arrive 
very early on the breeding grounds. They probably pair at least as early as the 
Mallard. The display of the Pintail was well described more than a century ago 
by George Montagu (1813). It has been described many times since, and has been 
beautifully illustrated by Millais (1902). It consists in the uprearing attitude seen 
in the Mallard and Common Teal. To be more specific: one or several males sud- 
denly bend the neck sharply, elevate the tail and rear up in the water, at the same 
time thrusting the bill down almost to the water. During courtship the male utters 
the whistling note; but another note used during display is described by C. W. 
Townsend (1920) as a soft wat-wat, and is evidently quite Teal-like. This is the 
same note described in various ways, as proop, kriick, briit, etc. The female utters a 
low quack, sometimes resembling the croak of the Widgeon (Millais, 1902). 
The mating flight seems to have been first noted by Nelson (1887) during his 
Alaskan journeys. It is the same as that of Mallard, Widgeon, Gadwall and Teal. 
Harper (MS.) first saw these pursuit flights on June 4, 1920, in the Athabaska 
region, though the birds had arrived on their breeding grounds at the end of April 
and the beginning of May. One female was followed by three males and at times 
she made a sort of “fluttering pause” in her flight, perhaps “when the male of her 
choice came near.” Then she would go off on a new tack, as if desiring that this male 
should follow, and the others desist from the pursuit. Dr. Nelson (1887) witnessed a 
flight in which six males were engaged, and he distinguished a clattering noise which 
sounded “like a watchman’s rattle,” and which was audible from a long distance. Is 
it not possible that the “fluttering pause” noticed by Harper is the cause of this pe- 
culiar rattle, which is probably not due to actual contact between the wings, and 
may be analogous to the “fluttering” sound heard from Widgeon in ordinary flight.^ 
These rattling noises, so commonly heard during the pursuit flights of the Chiloe 
Widgeon, may then be explained by the quick “braking” of the bird in flight rather 
than by any clashing of wings. 
These pursuit flights may last for as much as half an hour, until perhaps only one 
male remains with the female. At another time Dr. Nelson saw the female plunge 
under water at full speed, followed by her pursuers, after which they all suddenly 
