PINTAIL-DUCK 
Dafila acuta 
Plumage of back and flanks grey; the large scapulars are 
long-pointed and edged with buff; brilliant metallic green 
bar on wing; head brown; neck and under-parts white ; 
the tail long, and two centre feathers very narrow and longer 
than the rest; beak slate-grey; legs black; eyes brown. 
The female is a plain, mottled brown bird, tail pointed but 
not so long as the drake. Entire length, 23 inches. 
At different times of the year different birds 
come in gigantic flocks. Thus at one time, owing 
to the vast migration of these Pintail-Ducks, it 
might well be said they were far and away the 
commonest ; but a little later you hardly see one, 
and wherever you go it is the Shoveller Duck that 
is met with, whilst at another time it would be 
the Teal, or the Pochard. So that to settle the 
point exactly— What is the commonest duck of the 
country ?—is not altogether an easy one, and I do 
not intend to speak dogmatically ; but I have placed 
this duck first on the list, because not only do you 
meet with it in enormous numbers, but you also 
see it represented more frequently on the walls of 
temples and tombs. The well-known hieroglyph 
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