g4 BIRDS OF ALABAMA 



Island, November 24, and one was taken near Orange Beach, 

 December 7, 1915. 



General habits. — The pintail is a graceful bird, either in the 

 air or the water. In flight it may readily be identified by its 

 long, slender neck and the long, pointed tail feathers. Its call 

 note is a mellow whistle somewhat like that of the widgeon. 

 The birds occur in flocks, often of considerable size, frequent- 

 ing reedy ponds and sloughs in the interior and the shallow 

 waters of the coastal bays. They are usually shy, and rather 

 difficult to decoy. 



Food hinbits. — ^About seven-eighths of the food of the pintail 

 consists of vegetable matter ; of which seeds of pondweeds and 

 of sedges furnish the favorite items ; of the 790 stomachs of 

 this bird examined in the Biological Survey, 254 contained 

 seeds of widgeon grass (one of the pondweeds) , several with 

 over a thousand seeds in each. Others contained even larger 

 numbers of other species of pondweeds, rushes, and sedges, 

 varjing from 1,500 to 9,000 seeds in individual stomachs. 

 Seeds of wild grasses are eaten less frequently but often in 

 large quantities, one stomach containing 11,500 seeds of barn- 

 yard grass. Cultivated rice was found in 52 of the stomachs 

 examined, but the fact that these were all taken in the winter 

 months indicates that the grain was waste. Other plants which 

 furnished food for the pintail are smartweeds, arrowgrass, 

 muskgrass, glasswort (Salicornia), waterlilies, and the tubers 

 of the delta potato (Sagittaria platyphylla) . The animal food, 

 amounting to 12.85 per cent of the total, consists of moUusks, 

 crustaceans, and insects.f The stomachs of 2 individuals taken 

 in Duckers Bay contained snails and the leaves and stems of 

 pondweed (Najas); one taken at Orange Beach contained 

 about 60 snails and a large number of seeds (chiefly in the 

 gullet), including about 12,500 of smartweed (Polygonum 

 punctatum) and smaller quantities of those of sawgrass 

 (Cladium effusum) and of Lippia nodiflora. 



WOOD DUCK; SUMMER DUCK: Aix sponsa (Linnaeus). 



State records. — The handsome wood duck was once very 

 abundant throughout Alabama, but in recent years has been 



tMabbott, D. C, Ball. 862, U. S. Dept. Agr., pp. 31-36, 1920. 



