(Dafila acuta)
The pin-tail, or sprig is another very common duck of the Coast. Great
numbers of this species breed on our mountain lakes and, maturing
early, they are about the first to appear upon our shooting grounds,
great flocks reaching as far south as San Diego county, the mouth of
the Colorado river and the lakes and marshes of Lower California,
Arizona and northern Mexico as early as the middle of August or the
first of September. They come from the mountains plump and fat, and as
soon as the shooting season is open prove quite acceptable to the
epicure.
The pin-tail ranges throughout the territory covered by this work and
far to the north of it, and the fact that they breed around the
mountain lakes for the whole distance accounts for their early
appearance on the shooting grounds of the Coast.
=Color=--Male--Head and neck, rich brown, with a white stripe running
from the ociput down the sides of the neck to the breast; bill, lead
color, with a black stripe along the top; back, gray; breast, white;
central tail feathers, very long and pointed; speculum, light smoky
brown, edged with white.
Female--The female is much more of an ocher brown than the male, and
without the stripe on the neck or the lead color of the bill. The top
of the head and the sides of the neck are streaked with brown; breast,
spotted with dark brown; under parts, white. While it somewhat
resembles the female mallard, the much narrower bill and difference of
the speculum should prevent any error in identification. Besides the
tail is pointed and the axillars are white, barred with dark brown.
=Nest and Eggs=--The nest is usually back a little distance from the
water's edge and contains from eight to twelve bluish-white eggs.
=Measurements=--Total length, male, 28 and female, 22 inches;
wing, 9-1/2; bill, 2 inches.
[Illustration: WOOD DUCK (Aix sponsa)]