ANAS ACUTA. 



(THE PINTAIL.) 



Anas acuta, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 202 (17GG) ; Naum. Naturgesch. der Vog. Deutschl. xi. 



p. 638 (1842). 

 Dafila acuta (Linn.), Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 304 (1849) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. 



Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 269; Jerdon, B. of Ind. iii. p. 803 (1864); Holdsw. P. Z. S. 



1872, p. 479 ; Dresser, B. of Eur. pt. 19 (1873) ; Heuglin, Orn. N.Ost-Afr. ii. p. 1311 



(1873) ; Scl. & Salv. P. Z. S. 1876, p. 391 ; David & Oustalet, Ois. de la Chine, p. 498 



(1877); Hume, Str. Feath. 1879, p. 115 (List Ind. B.). 

 Pintailed Buck, Lath. ; Baltijunco, Port. ; Pijlstaart, Dutch. Dig hems, Bengal. ; Kokarali, 



Sindh (Jerdon) ; Bulbul, Arabic (Heuglin). 



Adult male (England and Siberia). Length 23-0 to 25 - inches; wing 106 to 11*5 j tail 6-0 to 6'5, the central 

 feathers 2-0 to 2-3 longer than the adjacent pair ; tarsus T5 ; middle toe 1/5, nail - 43 ; hind toe 04 ; bill to 

 gape (straight) 2-5, at front 2-0. — (Ceylon). Two examples : fling 1O2-10-7 inches. The central tail-feathers 

 are attenuated, running gradually to a sharp point. 



Iris orange-reddish ; bdl black, pale blue about the nostrils ; legs and feet greyish black. 



Male after the autumn moult (Tenesay, 10th June). Head and throat down to the middle of the fore neck earthy 

 brown, the centres of the feathers dark brown, overspreading them on the centre of the head and nape, and 

 changing on the hind neck into a black patch, passing again into the whitish of the lower hind neck, interscapulars, 

 --ides of chest, and flanks, all of which parts are very closely cross-pencilled with brownish black ; at the side of 

 the nape a white stripe passes down between the black hind neck and the brown of the throat, and spreads over 

 the entire under surface to the vent, the belly being finely stippled with brownish ; back greyish white, more 

 closely cross-pencilled with black than the interscapulars ; upper tail-coverts whitish with brown centres, the 

 larger lateral feathers with the outer webs black ; tail-feathers pale brown with whitish edges, the elongated 

 central pair entirely black ; scapulars and tertials elongated and lanceolate, the former black, with broad clearly- 

 defined white margins, the upper or shorter feathers white, cross-rayed with blackish like the interscapulars ; tertials 

 greyish white, with broad clearly-defined black centres, some of the feathers mottled with greyish along the outer 

 edges ; wing-coverts greyish slate, with a greenish tinge, the greater series broadly tipped with salmon-colour, 

 forming a band across the wing ; secondaries brown, witli broad white tips sharply defined on the outer webs 

 against a deep black band, changing higher up the feather into coppery bronze, which is deep green in some lights, 

 forming a brilliant speculum in the closed wing ; primaries pale brown, the first quill with a whitish shaft, the 

 remainder sullied whitish ; under tail-coverts dull black, the lateral feathers with an outer w-hite edge ; axillaries 

 whitish, with dark shaft-lines ; under wing-coverts brownish grey, stippled with whitish. 



The ground-colour of the tertials is brown in some specimens, and that of the upper tail-coverts brownish grey ; these 

 are probably not fully adult. The older the bird, the longer the scapular and central tail-feathers are. 



This plumage is worn through the winter until about the latter half of the following June, when, after the pairing- 

 time is over, the male undergoes during the month of July a complete moult, and assumes a plumage something 

 like that of the female, with the exception of the wing-coverts, primaries, and secondaries, which are renewed 

 as before. The dress in a male (Archangel, July 31) in Mi-. Dresser's collection is as follows : — 



summer plumage. Sides of the head, throat, and upper part of neck fulvous grey, the feathers centred with brown, 

 except on the throat ; top of the head blackish brown, the feathers edged with tawny, and paling on the back of 

 the neck into greyish brown ; lower part of the fore neck and its sides, together with the under surface, sullied 

 whitish, each feather with a brown bar near the tip, except on the breast, where the bars are reduced into small 

 spots ; flanks boldly barred with brown ; lower hind neck, scapulars, and back dark brown, the feathers crossed 

 with narrow bars of white, as also stippled with the same ; upper tail-coverts brown, crossed with crescentic bars 

 of white; tertials brownish grey, with broad mesial blackish stripes blending into the ground-colour; tail brown, 



