448 TUFTED DUCK. 



in winter ; at which season it ranges through Africa as far as 

 Abyssinia. In summer it frequents Northern Asia, nearly up to 

 Lit. 70", and during cold weather large numbers visit Japan, China, 

 and India down to Coimbatore, while wanderers reach the Malay 

 Archipelago and even Eastern Polynesia. 



As a rule incubation begins towards the end of May or early in 

 June, the nest being concealed under a bush, in a tuft of grass or 

 sedge, and sometimes in a peat hole ; the 8-13 eggs are of a greenish- 

 buff colour: measurements 2 "3 by i"5 in. Incubation lasts about 

 23 days. The call-note on alighting is rendered by Mr. Whitaker 

 as currugh^ airrii^h, uttered gutturally ; and he called my attention, 

 when at Rainworth, to the fact — ^which he believed to be invariable 

 — that the female is the first to rise when both birds are together 

 on the water. The Tufted Duck dives freely and frequently. For 

 the table it is tolerably good when it has been eating aquatic plants, 

 but as soon as it has taken to animal food, either on fresh or salt 

 water, the result is not satisfactory. Feeding takes place soon after 

 twilight, and also in the early morning. Pinioned birds have bred 

 on the ponds of the London Zoological Gardens and other orna- 

 mental waters ; and at the former a Tufted crossed with a Ferruginous 

 Duck in 1849, the hybrids afterwards breeding either inter se or 

 with the parents till 1861. In the British Museum there is a 

 hybrid presented by Mr. R. J. Howard from a brood produced 

 between the Tufted Duck and the Pochard in 1886 on a reservoir 

 in Woodfold Park ; and a similar bird is in the Belfast Museum. 



The adult male has the elongated crest, head and neck glossy 

 purplish-black ; breast and upper parts duller black, with a green 

 tinge on the secondaries ; wing-patch white with a black border ; 

 belly and flanks white, washed with grey towards the vent ; under 

 tail-coverts black ; bill slate-grey with a black nail ; irides brilliant 

 golden-yellow (whence the bird is sometimes called " Golden-eye ") ; 

 legs and toes slate- blue, webs black. Length 17 "2 5 in. ; wing 8 in. 

 Mr. Whitaker says that a paired male began to change into female 

 plumage in May, but an unattached drake was as bright as ever 

 until the end of August, when he became less white on the flanks. 

 It is, perhaps, not generally known that the drakes of many other 

 species retain nearly full dress throughout the summer, when they 

 have not mated. The female is rather smaller, and is sooty-brown 

 on those parts which are black in the male, the under surface being 

 brown barred with grey ; immature females (as well as young males) 

 have the forehead sprinkled with white after the autumn moult until 

 the following April. 



