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The Pintail 
yet no knowledge of man they are then quite tame, and it is great fun* 
to creep close up to them with the reflecting camera as they feed in the ! 
small ponds in the marsh. Away they go with a thunder of wings when ! 
one steps out from the rushes on the edge, and one may get splendid ' 
“shots” just as they spring into the air. Even thus early they are well 
practised in the long standing jump. i 
Maturing so soon, they begin to migrate rather early, so that flocks 
appear south of their breeding- range in the Northern States early in , 
September. Yet they are hardy, for some winter as far north as Long 
Island Sound, and in various localities they linger until ice forms. They I 
winter on our southern coasts, and down through 
Migration Mexico to Panama. Early March sees them mov- 
ing back through the United States again, and by I 
the last of the month some are on their more southerly breeding-grounds. 
They breed mostly in the interior and western districts, especially in the 
]u*airie region northward from Iowa and Nebraska, commonly in North 
Dakota, and thence northward to the Arctic Coast. Cosmopolitans, they ! 
are well known in Europe also. 
Though not given much to quacking, like the Mallard and the Black 
Duck, they utter now and then a subdued quack, but more often express I 
themselves in a soft chattering or low whistle. Eor the most part I have 
heard little sound from them, but they are said at times to be noisy. j 
Like most ducks in fresh water, the Pintail devours many kinds of ’ 
insects and small aquatic creatures, snapping eagerly at flies and 
mosquitos on the wing. It is fond of succulent water-plants, such as j 
wild celery, eating both roots and seeds ; and even of nuts, where these ; 
grow not far from the water. Ponds are preferred to 
Food streams, and in winter grain-fields, meadows, and even 
the prairies, have varied attractions as feeding-places. 
In the West, where there are prairies and marshes, this is one of the 
most abundant ducks, but in the East it is rather scarce. There, fearful 
of ever-present persecution, the few that do come to us slip so furtively 
at night into ponds and meadows that few besides the keenest of gunners 
detect their presence. How different seems the harried fowl in the 
hunting-season from the beautiful “greyhound of the air” on its breeding- 
grounds ! Would that the new era of Federal protection might make 
more abundant everywhere this beautiful, graceful wildfowl. 
Classification and Distribution 
The Pintailed Duck belongs to the Order Anseres, the Family Anatidce, Sub- 
family Anatincc, and the Genus Daiila. Its scientific name is Daiila acuta. It ranges 
throughout the western half of North America, breeding from Nebraska and 
northern Illinois north to Hudson Bay and Alaska, and westward to the Pacific 
Coast. It occasionally visits the North Atlantic Coast in migrations; and winters 
from British Columbia and the Missouri River Valley southward. 
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