River and Pond Ducks 



Pintail 



{Dafila acuta) 



Called also: SPRIGTAIL ; WINTER DUCK 



Length — Male, 25 to 30 inches, according to development of tail. 

 Female, 22 inches. 



Male — Head and throat rich olive brown, glossed with green and 

 purple; blackish on back of neck; two white lines, begin- 

 ning at the crown, border the blackish space, and become 

 lost in the white of the breast and under parts. Underneath 

 faintly, the sidfes more strongly, and the back heavily marked 

 with waving black lines; back darkest; shoulders black; 

 wing coverts brownish gray, the greater ones tipped with 

 reddish brown; speculum or wing patch purplish green; 

 central tail feathers very long and greenish black. Bill and 

 feet slate colored. 



Female — Tail shorter, but with central feathers sharply pointed. 

 Upper parts mottled gray and yellowish and dark brown; 

 breast pale yellow brown freckled with dusky ; whitish be- 

 neath, the sides marked with black and white; only traces 

 of the speculum in green spots on brown area of wing; tail 

 with oblique bars. In nesting-plumage the drake resembles 

 the female except that his wing markings remain unchanged. 



Range — North America at large, nesting north of Illinois to the 

 Arctic Ocean ; winters from central part of the United States 

 southward to Panama and West Indies. 



Season — Chiefly a spring and autumn migrant, or more rarely a 

 winter visitor, in the northern part of the United States ; a 

 winter resident in the south. 



No one could possibly mistake the long-tailed drake in fall 

 plumage for any other species; but the tyro who would not 

 confound his dusky mate with several other obscure looking 

 ducks, must take note of her lead colored bill and legs, broad, 

 sharply pointed tail feathers, and dusky under wing coverts. 

 The pintails carry themselves with a stately elegance that faintly 

 suggests the coming swan. Their necks, which are unusually 

 long and slender for a duck; their well poised heads and trim, 

 long bodies, unlike the squat figure of some of their kindred; 

 their sharp wings and pointed tails, give them both dignity and 

 grace in the air, on the land, or in the water, for they appear 

 equally at home in the three elements- 



But of such charms as they possess they are exceedingly 



109 



