316 FEATHERED GAME 
‘‘oray duck.’? This may mean the gadwall, 
(when they get him, which is all too seldom 
here) pintail, widgeon, even the ‘‘ruddy,’’ and, 
were it not that nature has named him so plainly 
in giving him his chestnut braincase, the red- 
head, too, would have been placed in the same 
category. It is not uncommon to have a gunner 
mention ‘‘so many (or perhaps it should be ‘so 
few’) gray ducks’’ in enumerating the results 
of his day’s shooting, and in most cases when 
the bird is produced it proves to be a female 
or a young male Pintail. 
In the favored regions of the West where the 
spring and fall flights of ducks are made in 
flocks of thousands, and where the shallow pools 
and prairie lakes are often nearly hidden by 
the companies of winged tourists, the Pintail 
is one of the most common birds. It is dis- 
tributed all over the North American continent 
and is also found in corresponding latitudes of 
Europe and Asia,—a universal favorite. 
To the average man, whose acquaintance with 
the duck family is confined to the noisy wad- 
dlers seen in the horse-ponds and barnyards 
through the rural districts, the agile grace and 
lithe movements of their wild relatives would 
