252 ANATIUVE. 



other fresh waters in considerable numbers, it is considered 

 a difficult duck to take in a decoy on account of the facility 

 with Avhich it dives, and gets back in the pipe towards the 

 open entrance and the pool. Its food is similar to that of 

 the Scaup Duck, but, unlike that species, its flesh is generally 

 excellent, so much so, that from its goodness this bird is 

 sometimes called the Black Wigeon. 



Tufted Ducks bred in confinement in the ponds at the 

 Gardens of the Zoological Society, during the summers of 

 ] 839-40, and 41 ; but I do not remember to have met with 

 any record of their breeding in a wild state in Britain. The 

 egg figured by Mr, Hewitson was obtained from Holland, 

 Avhere a few pairs of these birds are scattered during the 

 season among the many inland waters, and breed on their 

 borders amongst the thick cover which generally skirts them. 

 They lay from eight to ten eggs, in shape rather pointed at 

 one end, of a pale buff colour, tinged with green ; measuring- 

 two inches and one-eighth in length, by one inch and three- 

 eighths in width. 



Besides being found generally over England, even to the 

 southern shores during winter, it is also found along the 

 eastern coast of Ireland, but leaves both countries, and also 

 Scotland, in spring, for higher northern latitudes. Faber in- 

 cludes it among the birds of Iceland, but it does not appear 

 to go farther to the westward. The Tufted Duck is not 

 found in North America, though sometimes so stated. Mr. 

 Richard Dann, says, " this Duck is by no means common 

 either in Norway or Sweden. I have met with it in the 

 neighbourhood of Lulea, on the Bothnian Gulf, where it 

 breeds ; and in spring it appears on the coast and on the 

 adjacent lakes and rivers in the south of Sweden in small 

 numbers." Linnreus, in his Tour, mentions having seen 

 this species at Lycksele in Laphuid ; it is also the Lap- 



