EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 47 



centres. Small eggs of the Scaup are indistinguishable from 

 large eggs of the Pochard, but the down of the latter bird is of 

 a greyer brown. 



THE TUFTED DUCK. 

 (Fiiligula cristata.)* 



Plate 13, Fig. 5. 



The Tufted Duck is most abundant in Sherwood Forest, on the 

 chain of little lakes which lie between Newstead Abbey and 

 Clumber Park, in Nottinghamshire, but breeds in some numbers 

 in the meres of South Norfolk. It has also been recorded as 

 occasionally nesting in Sussex, Hertfordshire, Shropshire, York- 

 shire, and Northumberland, as well as in certain counties in 

 Scotland and Ireland. On the continent the range of the Tufted 

 Duck is very extensive, reaching from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 

 but it appears to be confined to the Old World, though it is said 

 to have occurred in Greenland. North of the Arctic Circle it is 

 very rare, but further south it breeds in considerable numbers in 

 most suitable localities as far as lat. 50°. In Norway it has been 

 obtained as far north as lat. 70°, in the valley of the Yenisei, in 

 lat. 68°, and on the Pacific coast in lat. 62°. 



The Tufted Duck is a late breeder ; the eggs are seldom laid 

 before the end of May, or, in late seasons, the beginning of June, 

 but in Norfolk they are at least a fortnight earlier. 



The nest is sometimes placed under a bush by the side of a 

 pond, sometimes amongst the rushes, and often in the centre of 

 the tufts, tussocks, or hassocks of sedge, which grow to a height 

 of two or three feet above the water. It is a mere hollow lined 

 with dry sedge or grass, and after the full complement of eggs are 

 laid, and the duck has begun to sit, with down. The number of 

 eggs is usually ten or twelve, but sometimes only eight are laid, 

 and occasionally as many as thirteen. They vary in length from 

 24 to 215 inches, and in breadth from 165 to 155 inch. They 

 scarcely differ in colour from those of the Scaup, Pochard, and 

 Pheasant. The down is greyish-black, with very obscure white 

 centres, but without white tips ; it is both smaller and darker 

 than that of the Pochard, an important point of identification, as 



* Fiiligula fiiligula — Sharpe, Handb., III., p. 12. 



