38 NORTH AMERICAN DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS. 



Alaska. The western shores of Hudson Bay seem to be the eastern 

 limit of the normal breeding ground in North America. A few birds 

 have been seen in Labrador, north to Ungava Bay, on the west coast of 

 Greenland, north to Upernavik, and also in Newfoundland and the 

 Maritime Provinces. But there are only a few breeding records east of 

 the line from the western side of Hudson Bay to the western shore of 

 Lake Michigan; examples are: St. George Island, James Bay ; St. Clair 

 Flats, Ontario, and the north shore of Lake Erie. Breeding abun- 

 dantly along the northern border of the United States from Lake 

 Superior nearly to the Pacific Ocean, the species decreases in numbers 

 southward until it is rare or casual as a breeder in southern Wiscon- 

 sin, northern Illinois (Will, Calumet Marsh, Grass Lake); southern 

 Minnesota (Faribault, Waverly, Heron Lake); northern Iowa (Han- 

 cock County); southern South Dakota (Vermilion, Scotland, Running 

 Water), and northern Nebraska (Kennedy, Hay Lake); accidental near 

 Kansas City, Mo. ; abundant in Montana and rare in Wyoming (Lake 

 Desmet), Colorado (Larimer County), and probably Arizona (Mormon 

 Lake); common in British Columbia, and rare and local through 

 Washington (Mabton) and Oregon (Rock Creek Sink) to southern 

 California (Alamitos). The northern limit of the breeding range 

 extends from the Arctic coast northwest of Hudson Bay west to 

 Alaska and the Siberian coast. 



The pintail breeds in the northern portions of the Old World and 

 migrates south in winter to northern Africa and southern Asia. A 

 few have been taken in the Bermudas in the fall and winter. 



Winter range. — The pintail is common in winter on the coast of 

 North Carolina, and is not uncommon coastwise as far south as Flor- 

 ida; many spend the winter in Cuba, a few pass to Jamaica, and there 

 is one record of the species in Porto Rico; it is one of the common 

 winter ducks from Mexico to Costa Rica, rare in Panama; a few win- 

 ter as far north as Pennsylvania and New Jersey, while accidentals in 

 winter have been recorded from Long Island and Lynn, Mass. Only 

 a few winter in the Mississippi Valley north of southern Illinois, and 

 thence the winter home extends through Texas, New Mexico, and 

 Arizona to the Pacific coast, where it is abundant at this season as far 

 north as southern British Columbia. The species winters casually in 

 southern Ohio and southern Indiana, while of late years it has become 

 a regular local winter resident in southern Wisconsin. 



Spring migration. — The pintail vies with the mallard in the earli- 

 ness of its spring movements; these two, with the Canada goose, are 

 among the first of the waterfowl to wing their way northward. Even 

 in February, while winter still holds sway, restless adventurers appear 

 in much of the region, which, except in a few favored spots, forbids 

 residence through the winter. The average date of arrival of these 

 birds in central Indiana (fourteen years) is February 21; southern 



