PINTAIL DUCK. 
405 
Iceland. On the 14th of June, some hundred miles or more 
further north—in fact, within half an English mile of where 
I am now writing (Muonioniska)—after a long and fruit¬ 
less search for eggs, as my party was standing still, hold¬ 
ing a council of war, a duck fluttered up a few yards of!’. 
There was a rush to the spot, greatly to the peril of the 
nest, sunk as it was in the moss. It was lined with down, 
and contained four eggs. The place was marshy, a few 
yards from the forest on the rise of the hill. At mid¬ 
night I went again to try to obtain the bird; it was just 
taking a circle over the nest, and it bent its long neck 
down to see that all was safe. I had a good look at it, as 
the sun was still shining. Twelve hours afterwards I had 
a shot at it as it rose rather wildly, but it did not seem 
to be hurt, and as I had to continue my journey I now 
reluctantly took the eggs, but I hoped that the down 
would serve to identify them, for amongst it were several 
breast feathers. In the meantime, if I could trust my 
eyes, the bird was a hen Pintail; the eggs were, perhaps, 
a week sat upon, and just like the others I had attributed 
to the same bird. On the 18th of June, I and my line 
of beaters put up the old ones from three nests at dif¬ 
ferent times in the course of the twenty-four hours in a 
large marsh. I saw two very well, one of which I ex¬ 
amined with my glass as it stood with its neck up in an 
open place some sixty or seventy yards off*. It was a Pin¬ 
tail. All the eggs were nearly hatching, and the young, 
of which I preserved one or two, were all of the same 
species ; I also kept the down and scattered feathers from 
each nest, and now I considered I had genuine Pintail’s 
eggs of my own taking. But the most permanent proof 
was still wanting,—the skin of a bird I myself should 
obtain from the nest. It was not till last season that I 
got this last proof. On the 20th of May, 1854, I visited 
