PINTAIL 137 



18 (1909) (Mailliard coll.), and from a set of eight collected April 

 21, 1916, on the Alvarado marshes, seven were hatched on April 26 

 (Dirks, MS). Willett and Jay (1911, p. 158) record having seen a 

 female with young at San Jacinto Lake, Riverside County, on May 

 28, 1911, and Linton (1908c, p. 197) records a brood as hatching on 

 June 4, 1908, at Buena Vista Lake, Kern County. Goldman (19086, 

 p. 202) found the Pintail the commonest breeding duck in the vicinity 

 of Tulare Lake in 1907. A female shot there June 21 contained an 

 egg ready to be laid. On the same date several adults with young 

 large enough to make short flights were seen. 



The following description of mating behavior as observed in Alaska 

 is given by Nelson (1887, p. 70) : 



On May 17, while sitting overlooking a series of small ponds, a pair of 

 Pintails arose and started off, the male in full chase after the female. Back 

 and forth they passed at a marvelously swift rate of speed, with frequent 

 quick turns and evolutions. At one moment they were almost out of view 

 high overhead, and the next saw them skimming along the ground in an 

 involved course very difficult to follow with the eye. Ere long a second male 

 joined in the chase, then a third, and so on until six males vied with each 

 other in the pursuit. The original pursuer appeared to be the only one capable 

 of keeping close to the coy female, and owing to her dextrous turns and 

 curves he was able to draw near only at intervals. Whenever he did succeed 

 he always passed under the female, and kept so close to her that their wings 

 clattered together with a noise like a watchman's rattle, and audible a long 

 distance. The chase lasted half an hour, and after five of the pursuers had 

 dropped off one by one the pair remaining (and I think the male was the same 

 that originated the pursuit) settled in one of the ponds. 



The nest is nearly always placed on dry ground, more often near 

 the edge of a pond or lake, but occasionally at some distance from 

 water. The nest itself is seldom more than a hollow in the ground 

 scantily lined with a mixture of dry grass and down, and is ordi- 

 narily not so well concealed as the nests of other ducks. In Alaska 

 bodies of water with a broad margin of marsh grass are usually 

 selected as the rendezvous for the future brood. In the Kowak Delta, 

 Pintail's nests were found far out on the bare, mossy tundra, in two 

 cases fully 400 yards from the nearest pond (Grinnell, 1900, p. 14). 

 The first brood of downy young in this locality was noted June 23. 



The eggs are pale olive green or dull grayish olive in color and 

 vary in shape from ovate to elongate ovate. They measure, in inches, 

 2.06 to 2.26 by 1.39 to 1.59, and average 2.18 by 1.51. They are 

 similar to the eggs of the Mallard in color but are smaller, more 

 elongated and a little more glossy. Davie (1889, p. 67) states that in 

 the far north as many as twelve eggs are to be found in a single nest, 

 but six or eight seems to be nearer the average number. It is also 



