1889-90-] The Tufted Diick. 383 



green shade, having a few feathers from the occiput prolonged, 

 and forming a gTaceful pendent crest or tuft. The back is 

 brownish black, and the under part a clear white. The 

 feathers on the back are delicately pencilled, a portion of 

 each of the secondaries of the wing white, forming a white 

 bar or speculum tipped with black. The duck is uniformly 

 dark-brown, except the under part, which is of a lighter 

 shade, the speculum of the wings white, as in the male. 

 The tuft in the duck is merely rudimentary. In this species 

 the feet are inordinately large for the size of the birds, the 

 body is very wide, and when on the water forms almost a 

 circle. They are rather clumsy walkers, but very expert 

 divers. The pair which I exhibit were hatched on the 2 2d 

 July last, and are therefore now eight months old, and have 

 attained nearly their mature growth. They are rather difJfi- 

 cult to rear, but I have watched their progress with much 

 interest. Their food consists of worms, soaked bread, and 

 meal and barley ; and the drake is very fond of peas, which 

 the duck will not touch. They are kept in a walled garden, 

 and have one wing clipped. Their pond is a wooden box 

 5 feet by 4, and 6 inches deep. It was amusing to watch 

 them when very young on worms being thrown into their 

 pond. Both birds were instantly under water, and you could 

 see them searching the bottom till every vestige of worm was 

 eaten. They have become very tame, and will take worms 

 from my hand. I am almost daily in the habit of thrusting 

 a fork into the lawn and shaking it about to bring up worms 

 for them, and they have become so accustomed to this pro- 

 ceeding that when they see me with the fork they follow me 

 immediately, and sit close to it watching for the appearance 

 of the worms. These and slugs, beetles, wood-lice, and ear- 

 wigs are with them favourite articles of diet, so that they are 

 really useful in a garden. The duck when feeding utters 

 occasionally a low guttural croak ; the drake, as far as I have 

 observed, is perfectly mute. I noticed one peculiarity in their 

 habits soon after they were hatched — namely, a strong desire 

 to sit on the back of their foster-mother, a small decoy duck ; 

 and it was by no means unusual to see the duck sitting in the 

 sunshine on the lawn, with four little black downy creatures 

 asleep on her back. It occurred to me that probably in a wild 



