THE PINTAIL. 
87 
A young male gadwall was shot in Beaulieu pond, near Drogheda, 
on the 5th of March, 1849, by B. J. Montgomery, Esq., a week 
before which time there was a gale from the east, and, immediately 
afterwards, another gale from that quarter, accompanied by snow. 
This bird is said to have emitted a very strong and peculiar odour, 
which was communicated to the hands of the person touching it, 
and was equally strong from the time that it was picked up until 
sent to be preserved two days afterwards. The same gentleman sent 
a female or young male from Drogheda to Dublin to be preserved, 
on the 21st of January, 1850.* * * § A young male was shot about 
the 3rd of this month in a bog near Blarney, county of Cork.f 
A male gadwall, partially exhibiting adult plumage, was shot 
by Mr. Brands Bankin in a snipe bog, nearly a quarter of a 
mile from the sea, in the Ards, near Kirkcubbin, county Down, 
about Christmas 1847. Only the one appeared; it was liberally 
presented by that gentleman to the Belfast Museum. 
The gadwall is considered a rare bird in England, and is not 
positively known to Sir William Jardine or Mr. Macgillivray to 
have occurred in Scotland, but, at Sanday, one of the Orkney 
Islands, J it was lately stated that a gadwall occasionally appears. 
The British Islands, generally, lie too far west to be much visited 
by the species. 
THE PINTAIL. 
Anas acuta , Linn-. 
Is a regular winter visitant, in small numbers, to our 
coast and inland waters. 
Belfast Bay . — Some two or three of these birds are almost sure 
to be obtained here every month of September. § The earliest 
* I have since learned that this bird was killed at the inland locality of Elphin, 
county Roscommon. 
f Dr. J. R. Harvey. + Hist. Nat. Oread, p. 75. 
§ From Lough Foyle, county of Londonderry, I have likewise seen them in 
September, and occasionally during the winter. 
