ANATID^— THE SWANS, GEESE, AND DUCKS. 149 



strenuously endeavored to work northward during February, 

 in 1884. .".... A few ducks of this species spent most of 

 the winter of 1884-'85 at ■ Shawneetown, 111, The only record 

 of their wintering farther north than Shawneetown was received 

 from Mr, W. B. Hull, of Milwaukee, Wis. Mr. Hull writes: 



"For about a week the whole bay was frozen over, with ice 

 from 12 to 14 inches thick. During this time the pot-hunters 

 butchered numbers of Pintail Ducks. The ducks were half 

 starved, and would allow a man to approach within 20 feet of 

 them. Ice-men were cutting ice close to the shore, and ducks 

 came right among them to get to the open water. A friend 

 who was on the ship Oneida during her twenty-five days in the 

 ice, said that the ducks (Pintails mostly, but a few 'northern' 

 ducks, he did not recognize) were 'frozen in.' When walking 

 on the ice near the boat, he saw hundreds of ducks in a solid 

 casing of ice. In the winter of 1873-'74, they were killed in the 

 same way." (Cooke.*) 



"The following valuable notes relative to the summer distri- 

 bution and breeding of this duck are abridged from the papers 

 of my late esteemed friend, Eobert Kennicott: In America the 

 summer home of the Pintail is within the Arctic regions, farther 

 to the northward than that of any other of our fresh-water 

 ducks, comparatively few breeding south of Great Slave Lake. 

 In their spring migrations to the northward they move in im- 

 mense flocks, which only disperse upon their arrival at their 

 breeding-grounds. A few reach that lake about May 1 ; but the 

 main body arrive about a week or so later, and mostly pass 

 directly on across the lake to the northward. On the Yukon 

 the first specimens were seen in the latter part of April ; and 

 before the 10th of May they had arrived in immense flocks, 

 which remained some time together in that vicinity before pass- 

 ing farther north or separating to ' breed. At this time the 

 birds were fat, and their flesh delicious, much superior to that 

 of any other duck, except the Widegon. At the Yukon the Pin- 

 tails are the latest in nesting of any of the fresh-water ducks, 

 and generally hatch a week or two after the Majlard. He found 

 them breeding in the same grounds, and iat about the same 

 time, with Fulix affmis, though they do not associate with that 



* Bird Migration in the Mississippi Valley , pp. 68,69. 



