PINTAIL. 
GRAY DUCK. SPRIGTAIL. 
Dafila acuta. 
Char. Male : back and flanks mottled gray ; head and neck brown, 
shading to black on the nape; wing-coverts buff; wing-patch, or “specu- 
lum,” green, margined with black and white ; tail black, the two central 
feathers much elongated; under parts white, — a line from the breast ex- 
tending up the sides of the neck; bill and legs slate gray. Length 26 to 
30 inches. Female: upper parts mottled gray and brown, and lower 
parts gray and white; wing as in male, but of duller tints; tail with 
oblique bars. I.ength 21 to 23 inches. 
Nest. Usually at considerable distance from the water, but often very 
near ; always amid a tuft of tall grass, in a dry spot, — a deep, bowl-like 
structure of sedges, and lined with grass and down. 
Egf;s. 7-10; pale buflish green ; average size about 2.10 X 1.50. 
This elegant species is an inhabitant of the northern parts of 
both continents, leaving its remote natal regions as the winter 
advances, when it is seen pretty frequently in the markets of 
the United States, and is a game much esteemed for the ex- 
cellence of its flavor. According to Richardson, these birds fre- 
quent chiefly the clear lakes, and breed in the Barren Grounds, 
