112 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. vi. 



The above note on the comparative colours in the eggs 

 of Pochard and Tufted Duck respectively, was written 

 down on the spot, and while the unblown eggs of both 

 species lay before me. The distinctions, however, are 

 slight, and perhaps need more accurate colour-perception 

 than my eye possesses. I therefore send, for the Editors' 

 judgment, the tAvo specimens actually taken (one of either 

 kind), only remarking that the delicate green shades 

 appear the more evanescent.* 



Tufted Duck {Nyroca fuligula). — Respecting the 

 Tufted Duck, M^hich to-day nests on half the lochs, 

 loughs, and mosses of the Borders — in several abundantly 

 — it is worthy of recall that at the date of the first edition 

 of my Bird-Life of the Borders (1889), the species was 

 all but unknown as a breeding-duck. Surely a remark- 

 able change ? The nests of the Tufted Duck are always 

 on the dry — among bog-grasses, sedge or low scrub, 

 heather for choice. In stating {Bird-Life, 2nd ed., p. 92), 

 that, owing to the feeble pedestrian powers of this, 

 and other, diving-ducks, the nest-site is exclusively con- 

 fined to the water's edge, I now find I had somewhat 

 overstated the habit. Such is very frequently the case — 

 as where some winding marsh-channel gives access far 

 away into recesses of bogs and mosses : but I have since 

 seen many nesting-places well aAvay from water and 

 which could be reached only on the wing. Especially 

 favoured resorts are flat mosses clad in deep heather 

 and interspersed with peat hags and small pools. Imme- 

 diately adjacent to such pools is the favourite site, and 

 alongside each nest (or even under it) will usually be 

 found the egg-shells and relics of a previous year's occu- 

 pation. 



*After examining the two specimens forwarded by Mr. Chapman, I 

 find tliat in this case the Pochard's egg is less green than that of the 

 Tufted Duck. All duck's eggs vary to some extent in colour, but the 

 ordinary type of Pochard's eggs has a decided green tinge which 

 combined with the large size and broader shape render it easy to dis- 

 tinguish from the egg of the Tufted Duck, which is typically more 

 olive-brown in colour, smaller and more elongated and elliptical in 

 shape. Out of over fifty Pochard's eggs examined this year in the 

 nests, not one lacked the characteristic green tint. — F. C. R. Jourdain"_ 



