PINTAIL. 37 



Bahamas. The Carolinas are the only place on the Atlantic coast where 

 the species is common. It is not rare in Maryland, and there are a few 

 winter records for New Jersey. The greater portion of the species 

 winters in the southern Mississippi Valley, north rarely to southern 

 Illinois — accidental January 11, 1892, at Lanesboro, Minn. — and south 

 through Mexico to central Guatemala; indeed many hundreds of 

 thousands are said to winter near Lake Chapala, Jalisco. At this sea- 

 son it is found in New Mexico, Arizona, all of California, and less com- 

 monly north on the Pacific coast to southern British Columbia. Num- 

 bers winter in the Hawaiian Islands. During flight between the winter 

 and summer home it passes through the northeastern United States, 

 not rarely through Pennsylvania and New York, and formerly it was 

 not rare in Massachusetts; but for the last fifteen years there has been 

 hardly more than a single record a year for the whole of New England. 



Spring migration. — Records of the movements of this species are 

 not numerous enough to permit exact statements. Migration begins 

 late in February, but is slight before the middle of March, at which 

 time the species begins to appear north of its winter range. Average 

 dates of arrival are: Central Illinois, March 23; central Iowa, March 

 23 (average of sixteen years); Heron Lake, Minn., March 26; central 

 Nebraska, March 25; central Colorado, March 12; vicinity of Chicago, 

 111., April 16; southeastern Minnesota, April 9; central North Dakota, 

 April 13; southern Manitoba (twelve years), April 21; Terry, Mont., 

 April 13. The first were seen near Edmonton, Alberta, May 1, 1901; 

 Fort Chipewyan, Mackenzie, May 7, 1893; Fort Resolution, Macken- 

 zie, May 18, 1860, and at the mouth of the Yukon River the second 

 week in May. The general time of breeding can be learned from the 

 following dates: Haywards, Cal., eggs April 25, 1901; East Bernard, 

 Tex., downy young May 14, 1905; Fort Snelling, Minn., eggs May 23; 

 North Dakota, incubated eggs June 7; Oak Lake, Manitoba, eggs 

 May 24, 1892. 



Fall migration. — An individual seen at Erie, Pa., September 6, 1893, 

 marks about the beginning of fall migration, and soon after this, by 

 the middle of the month, the earliest migrants have reached the mouth 

 of the Mississippi River. The larger portion has departed from the 

 northern United States by the middle of October, and the region just 

 north of the winter range is deserted early in November. South of 

 the.United States, at the southern end of Lower California, the first 

 arrivals have been recorded October 18; Guaymas, Mexico, Novem- 

 ber; Panama, October 16; Cuba, September; Jamaica, November; 

 Trinidad, December. 



Dafila acuta (Linn.). Pintail. 



Breeding range. — This is a common breeding duck throughout a 

 wide stretch of country from North Dakota to the Arctic Ocean and 



