PINTAIL DliCK. 
443 
this species; and those I captured, I resigned to the care of an old lady who had a brood 
of domestic birds, but from some unaccountable cause, they soon died. 
GENUS Y. DAFILA. THE SPRIG-TAILED DUCKS. 
Gen. Cn. Bill, long, narrow, not much flattened, swollen, nor high at base, and slightly widened at lip. Neck, long 
and thin. Legs, short. Marginal indentations, closed in adults. 
The trachea is slightly dilated, and the larynx of the male is expanded and provided with a bony frame-work. The 
stomach is muscular. Sexes, not similar. There is but one species within our limits. 
DAFILA ACUTA. 
Pin-tail Duck. 
Dafila acuta Jenyns, Man.; 1835, 232. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Sp. Cn. Form, rather slender. Size, medium. Color. Adult male. Head, throat, and small portion of upper neck, 
dark-brown, with feathers edged with lighter and showing slight green and violet reflections on posterior portions. Two 
lines of.white extend along sides of neck, nearly uniting on back, and between these is a patch of black which has green¬ 
ish reflections, but this gradually becomes brown on back which is finely barred with white, and extends to the central tail 
coverts that are edged with white. Scapularies and tertiaries, black, edged or streaked with brown which on former is 
banded with white. Primaries and secondaries, brown, the latter broadly tipped with white that is preceded by a reddish 
tinge on two or three outer. Speculum, greenish, with violet reflections, and surrounded by a band of black. Wing 
coverts, ashy-brown,with the greater tipped with reddish-brown. Sides of upper tail coverts, central tail, and under tail 
coverts, black, with a line on the sides of latter, white; remainder of tail, brown, edged and spotted with white. Beneath, 
creamy-white, finely and faintly banded on posterior portions, and more noticeably on sides and flanks, with dark-brown, 
tinder wing coverts, ashy-brown, banded and spotted with white. Iris and feet, dark-brown; bill black, bluish on sides. 
Adult female. Above and on sides, flanks, and under wing coverts, dark-brown, with feathers edged, streaked, band¬ 
ed, and spotted with yellowish-white and rufous. Beneath, yellowish-white, spotted on head, neck, and under tail cov¬ 
erts, with dusky. Secondaries, tipped with white. Speculum, grayish. Middle tail feathers, not greatly elongated. Oth¬ 
erwise similar to male. Young. Similar to adult female, and males occur in transitional stages between this and adult. 
OBSERVATIONS. 
The male may be recognized by the greatly elongated central tail feathers, and colors as described. Female, by the 
narrow bill and grayish speculum. Distributed, in summer, throughout Arctic America. Winters in the South. 
DIMENSIONS. 
Average measurements of specimens from North America. Length, 24‘75; stretch, 34'00; wing, 9 - 95; tail, 6'00; bill, 
2-12; tarsus, 1’63. Longest specimen, 28 - 51>; greatest extent of wing, 3r0(>; longest wing, 10 25; tail, 8‘00; bill, 2’25; tarsus, 
P75. Shortest specimen, 21 - 00; smallest extent of wing, 33'00; shortest wing, 9 75; tail, 4*00; bill, 2‘00; tarsus, P50. 
DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 
Nests, placed on the ground in marshy places, composed of grass, weeds, etc. Eggs, from six to ten in number, ellip¬ 
tical in form, and greenish-brown in color. Dimensions from l , 50x2‘10 to P55x2’30. 
HABITS. 
The Pintail Ducks are not common in New England nor in any of the Northern 
States, east of the Mississippi, although some are to be found here every year. They ap¬ 
pear to be particularly fond of the creeks that make out from the salt water, where they 
feed in company with the Black Ducks. The Pintails are more common in the Southern 
States but the great winter resort of the species is in Florida; here they, are not only ex¬ 
ceedingly abundant but very tame. On one occasion, while I was making my way down 
Indian River, numbers of these Ducks were passing over my head southward. They flew 
in straggling flocks, consisting of from twenty to some hundreds of specimens, and one com¬ 
pany followed another so closely, that there was an almost unbroken line. They contin¬ 
ued to move in this manner all the morning; thus many thousands of individuals must have 
past us. Shortly after noon, they began to alight along the beaches in such numbers that 
they fairly covered the ground, and were so unsuspicious that my assistant, who had left 
the boat some time previous, walked within a few yards of them, and killed three or four 
