338 
ANAS SPIN I CAUDA 
Behavior in Captivity. This Pintail was imported into England at an early 
date by Lord Derby, and the London Gardens obtained their first specimen in 1851, 
when the Knowsley collection was sold. Others were imported in 1870 and begin- 
ning with 187'2 this duck bred very freely in the Gardens, so that many Continental 
collections were supplied from there (P. L. Sclater, 1880). It is classed as one of the 
easier species to breed, and many amateurs have successfully reared it. It has always 
been a rather cheap bird, varying from £‘i to £3 the pair. At the present time hand- 
reared stock brings 80 or 90 shillings a pair in England. There is an old note by 
Dufort (1876) to the effect that a pair kept by M. Bouillod at Saint-Leger-sur- 
d’Heune bred twice in a year, both in May and in December; the winter clutch 
yielded five young out of six eggs, while the summer clutch of three eggs proved 
completely sterile. If this observation can be relied upon it furnishes an interesting 
case of a southern species with delayed adaptation to reversed season, and is the 
only case I know of. 
The only pair I ever kept, lived a good number of years. They were extremely 
hardy, and though by no means striking in appearance they were very satisfactory 
in every other respect. They never show’ed any tendency to breed. 
In American live-bird markets the Brown Pintail sold as low as $20.00 the pair, 
but since the War importation seems to have ceased. Sixty-seven specimens kept 
by the London Gardens lived on an average three years, four and a half months, the 
maximum being twenty-two years and nine months (P. C. ISIitchell, 1911). In 
confinement they breed when one year old. In this country they seem to have first 
been bred by Mr. John A. Cox at East Brewster, Massachusetts (L. S. Crandall, 
in Utt.). 
Hybrids. The only wild-killed hybrid, so far as I know, was taken by R. IM. 
Beck near Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires, in 1914. It was a cross with the Bahama 
Duck (Anas bahamensis), and is now in the Brewster-Sanford collection (American 
Museum of Natural History). In confinement the species has been crossed with the 
Common Pintail (Anas acuta), the Chiloe Widgeon (Anas sihilairix), the Bahama 
Duck and the Carolina Duck. The hybrids produced by the mating of the Brown 
Pintail and Chiloe Widgeon proved completely sterile (Poll, 191 1 ; specimens at Tring 
Museum). 
