258 THE PINTAIL DUCK. 



the ground as swiftly as Wood Ducks, still carrying their tail erect, unless 

 when seizing an insect that is on wing or resting on a blade of grass. I 

 knew a particular spot in a corn-field, not many miles from Bayou Sara in 

 Louisiana, where, even after a shower, I was sure to meet with this species, 

 and where I could always have procured a good number, had I thought them 

 likely to be prized at the dinner-table. While I was at General Hernan- 

 dez's in Florida, the Pintails were very numerous. They alighted every- 

 where, and I shot a few in order to satisfy myself that they were of the 

 same species as those I had been accustomed to see. On one occasion I shot 

 at a large flock swimming on a shallow pond in a large savannah, and 

 wounded several, which I was surprised to see diving very expertly as I 

 waded out for them, this species being by no means addicted to that practice. 

 Those which I have now and then wounded, while in a boat and in deep 

 water, soon gave up diving, and surrendered, without exhibiting any of those 

 feats of cunning performed by other species. 



The flight of the Pintails is very rapid, greatly protracted, and almost 

 noiseless. They arrive in the Western Country mostly in the dusk of even- 

 ing, and alight without much circumspection wherever they find water. 

 They remain at night in the ponds where they feed, and continue there 

 generally unless much disturbed. On such occasions they keep in the mid- 

 dle of the water, to avoid their land enemies; but the Virginian and Barred 

 Owls not unfrequently surprise them, and force them to rise or make towards 

 the shore, when they fall a prey to the nocturnal marauders. In the Middle 

 States, they are highly esteemed for the table. There they arrive later and 

 retire sooner towards their breeding-places, than in the country west of the 

 Alleghany Mountains. 



Pintail Duck, Anas acuta, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. viii. p. 72. 



Anas acuta, Bonap. Syn., p. 383. 



Anas caudacuta, Pintail Duck, Swains, and Rich. F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. p. 441. 



Pintail or Winter Duck, Anas acuta, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 386. 



Pintail Duck, Anas acuta, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iii. p. 214; vol. v. p. 615. 



Male, 29, 36. Female, 22-1, 34. 



From Texas, throughout the interior, to the Columbia river, and along the 

 Atlantic coast to Maine, during winter and early spring. Breeds in the 

 Arctic regions. Abundant. 



Adult Male. 



Bill nearly as long as the head, deeper than broad at the base, depressed 

 towards the end, the frontal angles short and obtuse. Upper mandible with 

 the dorsal line at first sloping, then concave, towards the curved unguis 

 nearly straight, the ridge broad and flat at the base, then broadly convex, 



