LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN WILD FOWL. 203 



owing probably to the fact that they have been frozen. On these the tufteds arrive 

 in one small flock late in February or early in March, and at once commence court- 

 ship and pairing. As soon as they are paired they become very tame, and it adds 

 much to the charm of a day's spring fishing on Loch Leven to see these charming, 

 birds, with hosts of other ducks, circling round the boat, and taking but little notice 

 of intruders in the sanctuary. 



Courtship.— Ea,T\y in March the large flocks of tufted ducks split up into smaller 

 companies; and if the weather is fine, and they are observed with the glass, it will 

 be seen that a constant commotion is taking place amongst their ranks. Two or three 

 males are sometimes to be seen "showing off " before a duck, and vice versa, some 

 drakes seem to have a decided attraction for the females, which swim rapidly round 

 and alongside them, dipping their bills frequently, and uttering their harsh call. 

 The courtship of the male tufted duck is probably the most undemonstrative of 

 any of the Anatidae. I myself, and such good observers as Mr. Gerald Legge and 

 Mr. Hugh Wormald, who have these birds constantly under notice both in a wild 

 and domesticated condition, have never seen any show on the part of the male except 

 the following: The male swims rapidly past the female but without turning his head 

 in her direction, and extends the neck to its full length. At the same time the bill 

 is raised to an angle of 45°, and retained in this position for some seconds, whilst it 

 utters frequently a low gentle whistle something like the word hoi, and well-nigh 

 impossible to express onomatopoetically. In many cases in which male birds are 

 furnished with ornaments of exceptional beauty, we notice that these parts are dis- 

 played in courtship, but in the case of the tufted drake, the bird seems to beincapar 

 ble of displaying his long crest in any fashion, for at the period of courtship it hangs 

 limp at the back of the head as at other seasons. In moments of excitement the 

 pupil Oi tlie eye almost disappears, as it does in so many birds, and the golden iris 

 seems to blaze with unusual fire. 



Nesting. — Considering tlie fact that tufted ducks pair early, it is somewhat 

 curious that they are not by any means early breeders. It is not long before 

 they seek out a suitable nesting site, but it is generally well into May before the 

 females think of nesting. The site chosen is generally only a few yards from the 

 water, often amid dense herbage or the top of a sloping bank on some island, tongue 

 of land, or embankment. At Patshull 8 or 10 nests are annually placed on a low dike 

 separating two small lakes. The distance of each nest from the water would be 2 

 to 5 yards and the eito hidden in rushes and coarse grass where a few stunted 

 willows grow. I have found them with little covering but a few grass blades, and 

 at other times, some 20 yards from the water, in a thicket of willows, Scots fir, 

 bramble, and reeds. A favorite position is in center of a tuft of rushes, only 

 slightly raised above the level of the lake. Naumann says they will travel as far as 

 80 to 100 paces from the water to make the nest in a clump of sedge or osier, rushes 

 or tufts of grass, in places once wet and now dry. 



Eggs. — Eggs rather coarse in texture, with some gloss; color yellowish brown. 

 Sometimes with greenish tinge. Shape frequently a much elongated ellipse or long 

 oval. Average size of 150 eggs, 59.0 by 40.9 millimeters; maximum, 65.9 by 46.3 

 and 6:5.9 by 47.2; minimum, 53 by 38 (or in inclies, 2.32 by 1.61). (F. C. R. J.) 



The number of eggs in a clutch usually ranges from 8 or 9 to 10, but at times 

 much larger numbers are found. R. J. Ussher has recorded a nest with 14 from 

 Ireland, and in May, 1899, Mr. Malloch, of Perth, sent me a photo of a nest high up 

 on the old castle at Loch Leven which also contained 14 eggs. The Rev. F. C. R. 

 Jourdain has met with clutches of 11, 12, 15, 16, and 18, but the last seemed cer- 

 tainly to be tlie produce of two ducks. The late T. E. Buckley found clutches of 

 16 and 17 in Caithness. Newton in the Ootheca mentions 21 eggs as found in one 

 nest, and Jourdain found a duck sitting on a pile of 28 eggs at Osmaston, Derbysliire, 

 which, of course, she was quite unable to cover, but in this case about live ducks 



