(BROWN PINTAIL.)
+Anas spinicauda+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 515 (Paraná). +Anas
oxyura+, _Burm. ibid._ (Mendoza). +Dafila spinicauda+, _Scl. P.
Z. S._ 1870, p. 666, pl. xxxviii.; _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p.
130; _iid. P. Z. S._ 1868, p. 146 (Buenos Ayres), 1869, p. 157,
et 1876, p. 392; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1878, p. 64 (Buenos Ayres) et
p. 401 (Patagonia); _White, P. Z. S._ 1883, p. 42 (Buenos Ayres);
_Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 274 (Entrerios).
_Description._--Above brown; feathers black in the centre and
margined with brown; head above bright rufous spotted with black;
wings brown, with a large speculum of bronzy black, distinctly
margined above and below with buff: beneath, throat dirty white,
sparingly spotted with black; breast, flanks, and crissum tinged
with rufous, the feathers with black centres; belly white, in the
lower portion slightly varied with brown; bill black, at the base
yellow; feet plumbeous: whole length 19·0 inches, wing 9·7, tail
5·5. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Southern Brazil, Peru, Paraguay, Argentina, Chili, and Patagonia.
The Brown Pintail is the commonest Duck in the Argentine Republic, and
unites in the largest flocks. It is also, according to Philippi and
Landbeck, the commonest species in Chili. It ranges from South Brazil
and Peru to the Magellan Straits and the Falklands; but is probably most
abundant in the Plata district and in North Patagonia. In the autumn it
sometimes visits the pampas in immense numbers, to feed on the seed of
the giant thistle (_Carduus mariana_); and on these occasions I have
known as many as sixty killed at one shot. The birds, however, soon
become wary when feeding on the open plains in large flocks, and it then
becomes impossible to approach them without a trained horse. The Ducks
pay no attention to horses and cattle browsing near them; and the
trained animal, with the gunner concealing his gun and person behind it,
feeds quietly along, and gradually approaches the flock until within
range. In the valley of the Rio Negro, in Patagonia, the Pintails
sometimes cause serious damage to the farmers, coming up in clouds from
the river by night to devour the ripe grain.
In favourable seasons the Pintail is a resident; but like the
marsh-gulls, pigeons, the American golden plover, and all birds that
live and move in immense bodies, it travels often and far in search of
food or water. A season of scarcity will quickly cause them to disappear
from the pampas; and sometimes, after an absence of several months, a
day's rain will end with the familiar sound of their cry and the sight
of their long trains winging their way across the darkening heavens.
Their nest is made on the ground, under the grass or thistles, at a
distance from the water, and is plentifully lined with down plucked
from the bosom of the sitting bird. The eggs are seven or eight in
number and of a deep cream-colour.