94 The Natural History of British Ducks 
Every spring a few Pintail have come to Loch Leven ; but these were 
not known for certain to have bred there until 1898, when four nests were 
discovered by Mr. W. Evans.^ In 1899, Mr. F. C. Selous visited the lake 
and found several nests, whilst another friend of mine counted nine nests 
on the Castle Island. Mr. Heatley Noble tells me that, in 1900, he noticed 
thirteen nests of the Pintail on the Castle Island, and believes that this 
did not represent half the number that were there. In 1901 there was a 
further increase in the number ; so the species, having formed a colony of 
breeding-birds in this northern paradise of the ducks, is now certain to 
extend its range in suitable localities both north and south, as the Tufted 
and the Wigeon have done. There is a small loch in Sutherlandshire near 
the Dornoch Firth where I feel sure the Pintail have nested intermittently 
for some years, and during 1901 my friend, Mr. T. E. Buckley, sent me a 
female Pintail in the moulting stage of her pinions, which he had killed on a 
marsh at Castlehill near Thurso on August i. The bird probably bred there, 
presenting the first instance of such an occurrence in Caithness at this 
season. , . 
In Ireland the Pintail is a regular winter visitor to certain localities, and, 
as elsewhere, its numbers vary considerably in different seasons. Some years 
it occurs plentifully on Lough Gill, the Cranston marshes, the Shannon lakes. 
Lough Corrib, the Moy estuary. Lough Swilly, and the Kellyville decoy lake. 
Messrs. Ussher and Warren also mention Drumcliffe and Ballysodare bays, 
the marshes in co. Antrim and the decoy lake at Longueville near Mallow as 
regular resorts. I have seen Pintails in some marshes near the river Black- 
water in Cork, and during the winter of 1891 considerable numbers in the 
brackish backwater at Malahide near Dublin. The Pintail is said to breed 
occasionally in the west of Ireland, but so far I have never met with any 
ornithologist who has either seen young birds or taken a nest. Lord 
Castletown, however, took a nest many years ago at Cranston, Queen's 
1 Ann. Scott. Nat. Hist. 1898, p. 162. 
