BRITISH BIRDS' NEST>S.\ 69 



probable that the few staying to breed in our 

 islands have a farther southern range than those 

 from Iceland. Note : a soft inward quach. Local 

 and other names : A¥inter Duck, Cracker, Sea 

 Pheasant. A close sitter, and has bred repeatedly 

 in confinement. 



DUCK, TUFTED. 



Description of Parent Birds. — Length about 

 seventeen inches. Bill of medium length, but 

 little broadened towards the point, and bluish-grey 

 with a black tip. Irides rich dark yellow. Head 

 and neck glossy purplish-black. The feathers at 

 the back of the head are narrow and elongated, and 

 form a tuft or crest. Back, rump, wings, and 

 tail black with a white bar running across the 

 secondaries, which are tipped with black. There 

 is a small spot of white on the chin. Breast, 

 belly, and sides white. Vent and under tail- coverts 

 black. Legs, toes, and webs dusky black. 



The female has all those parts which are black 

 in the male a dusky brown, and the white parts 

 dirty grey, marked with irregular lines on the sides 

 and flanks. She lacks the crest, or only enjoys 

 it in a very modified form. 



Situation and Localitij. — In a tuft or bush of 

 long, coarse vegetation, such as rushes, sedges, 

 heather, or bent grass, on the edges of tarns and 

 lakes and other suitable places throughout the 

 British Isles. I have met with odd pairs nesting 

 round tarns on the North Yorkshire moors. It 

 nests most numerously in Nottinghamshire. Our 

 illustration was procured on a celebrated Norfolk 

 Mere, and was in an ideal position, the bird having 



