2(36 THE PINTAIL DUCK. 



gradually diminishing to 3 twelfths. At the lower part several of the rings 

 are united so as to form an irregular dilatation, bulging out into a rounded 

 sac, n, on the left side, its greatest diameter being 10 twelfths. The bronchi 

 are of moderate length, wide, with about 25 half rings. The contractor 

 muscles are rather strong; and besides the sterno-tracheals, op, there is a 

 pair of cleido-tracheals. 



In a female, the gizzard is 2 inches in its greatest diameter; the intestine 

 is 5 feet 2 inches long. The contents of the oesophagus and stomach as in 

 the male. 



THE PINTAIL DUCK. 



-+-Anus acuta, Linn. 

 PLATE CCCXC— Male and Female. 



The first observation that I made on arriving at Labrador, was that no 

 species of Ducks, excepting those which were entirely or chiefly oceanic, 

 seemed to resort to that coast, and I left the country with the same impres- 

 sion. We saw no Mallards, Teals, Widgeons, or Wood Ducks there; nor 

 any species of Merganser, excepting the Red-breasted, which is a marine 

 bird. The Pintail Duck, then, was not seen in the parts of that country 

 which I visited; nor was it known in Newfoundland, on the Magdeleine 

 Islands, or in the British province of Nova Scotia, at least along its Atlantic 

 boundaries. In Kentucky and the whole of the Western Country, where it 

 is extremely abundant in early autumn, during winter, and up to a very ad- 

 vanced period in spring, you meet with it wherever its usual food is found. 

 It follows the waters of the Mississippi to New Orleans, is seen westward in 

 the prairies of Oppelousas, and extends to the eastward as far as Massachu- 

 setts, beyond which, like the Mallard, it is very seldom seen. Indeed, this 

 species is at all times rare on the sea coast of America, and must therefore 

 be considered as an inland bird. 



The Pintail, which, in the United States, is better known by the name of 

 Sprigtail, arrives on the western waters early in October, sometimes even 

 about the middle of September, the period of its arrival depending on the 



