THE PIN-TAILS. 
287 
ranging in winter as far south as Honduras and Cuba {Rtdg- 
way). 
Hatits. — Similar to those of N. crecca. 
Eggs. — Pale dull buff. Axis, 175 inch ; diam., i’28 {Ridg 
way. 
THE PIN-TAILS. GENUS DAFILA. 
Dafila, Steph. Gen. Zool. xiii. part 2, p. 126 (1824). 
Type, D. acuta (L.). 
The Pin-tailed Ducks, though in general structure much 
resembling the members of the preceding genera, have a dis- 
tinctive character in their long tail, the central feathers of 
which are elongated beyond the rest and pointed. The cul- 
men also is nearly straight. 
With the exception of Australia and New Zealand, the range 
of the genus Dafila may be said to be almost cosmopolitan. 
Only three species arc recognised by Count Salvador!, for the 
Dafila modesta of Canon Tristram, from the Fanning Islands, 
will, in all probability, prove to be D. acuta, which has already 
been procured in Borneo on its southern migration. D. eatoni 
inhabits Kerguelen Island, and the Crozettes, and D. spini- 
cauda is peculiar to South America. 
I. THE PIN-TAIL. DAFIL.A ACUTA. 
Anas acuta, Linn. S. N. i. p. 202 (1766) ; Seebohm, Br. B. iii, 
p, 534 
Qucrquedula acuta, Macg. Br. B. v. p. 65 (1852). 
Dafila acuta. Dresser, B. Eur. vi. p. 53 r, pis. 43o> 43 1 
(1873) ; B. O. U. List Br. B. p. 124 (1883) ; Saunders, 
ed. Yarr. Br. B. iv. p. 380 (1885); id. Man. Br. B. p. 417 
(1889); Lilford, Col. Fig. Br. B. part xiii. (1890) ; Salvad. 
Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxvii. p. 273 (1895). 
Adult Male.— General colour above ashy-grey, finely vermicu- 
lated with wavy lines of blackish ; the long scapular plumes 
and inner secondaries bordered with white, and longitudinally 
centred with black, with a slight inclination to form a sickle- 
shaped curve ; the upper scapulars black for the greater part 
