PINTAIL 
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securing extremely minute forms of food. The 
Shoveller may be seen gobbling along the surface 
of an open lake in exactly the same way as a Duck 
skims off the duckweed that coats a farmyard 
pond, and it is doubtless then feeding on minute 
and invisible life, or perhaps on equally invisible 
small drowned, winged insects. It is not confined 
to this minute diet, but also lives on worms, snails, 
crustaceans, etc., and on grasses. The nest of dry 
grass and down is built on the ground, among 
heather or marsh vegetation, and the eight to a 
dozen eggs are a little smaller than the Mallard's, 
and of the same creamy green. 
PINTAIL. 
(JDafila acuta,) 
The Pintail is a frequent visitor to our coasts in 
winter, and is also found on inland waters, though 
by no means so commonly as several of the other 
species. The Drake can be easily recognised by 
his long, pointed tail, long, slender neck, and a con- 
spicuous white shaft, or streak, on each side of the 
brownish neck-feathers, which begins on a level 
with the eye and runs down till it joins the white 
throat and breast. The plumage of the body 
much resembles that of the Widgeon, though the 
