The Pintail 



two very diverse species was no chance coincidence, but a very practical 

 rule, insomuch that whenever, in dragging, we flushed a Meadowlark, 

 we said, "Now look for the duck's nest." Once, before we had discovered 

 this rule, we put up a Shoveller from two eggs, and marked the spot with 

 a bit of string tied to a neighboring weed. Returning four days later 

 and dropping carefully to my knees before the string-tied cluster, I 

 stretched out my hand to part the thick grasses. From exactly beneath 

 the hand, with a yip of terror, flew a Meadowlark from six eggs. Talk 

 of the continuity of Nature! Here was a manifest exception. Six eggs 

 I had expected, but not Meadowlarks'. What pixie of the meadow had 

 been tricking me? It was not till the day following that I returned with 

 renewed courage to resolve the riddle. The Shoveller's eggs, now cleverly 

 concealed by down, were just twelve inches away from those of the Mead- 

 owlark. Evidently, the Duck seeks association with the Lark; this not 

 so much with a view to congenial company, as in order that she may be 

 warned of the approach of danger. Perhaps it is the male Lark whose 

 advice she plans to follow, in view of the fact that her natural protector, 

 the gay drake, will desert as soon as she begins to brood. 



Taken near Santa Barba 



A BASHFUL SWAIN 



Ptwlo by the Author 



No. 354 



Pintail 



A. 0. U. No. 143. Dafila acuta tzitzihoa (Vieillot). 



Synonyms. — Sprig. Sprig-tail. Spike-tail. 



Description. — Adult male: Head and upper-neck hair-brown, darker or warmer 

 brown on top of head, with faint greenish or wine-purple iridescence on sides of occiput; 

 a narrow white stripe from occiput obliquely backward and downward to join white 



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