TUFTED DUCK. 



*278. AXJS RUFITOBQUES, BONAPARTE. 



AXJS FULIGULA, WILSON TUFTED DUCK. 



WILSON, PLATE LXVII. FIG. V EDINBURGH COLLEGE MUSEUM. 



THIS is an inhabitant of both continents ; it frequents 

 fresh water rivers, and seldom visits the sea shore. It 

 is a plump, short bodied duck; its flesh generally tender 

 and \vell tasted. They are much rarer than most of our 

 other species, and are seldom seen in market. They 

 are most common about the beginning of winter, and 

 early in the spring. Being birds of passage, they leave 

 us entirely during the summer. 



The tufted duck is seventeen inches long, and two 

 feet two inches in extent ; the bill is broad and of a 

 dusky colour, sometimes marked round the nostrils and 

 sides with light blue; head, crested, or tufted, as its 

 name expresses, and of a black colour, with reflections 

 of purple ; neck marked near its middle by a band of 

 deep chestnut ; lower part of the neck, black, which 

 spreads quite round to the back ; back and scapulars, 

 black, minutely powdered with particles of white, not 

 to be observed but on a near inspection ; rump and vent, 

 also black ; wings, ashy brown ; secondaries, pale aih, 

 or bluish white; tertials, black, reflecting green; lower 

 part of the breast and whole belly, white; flanks crossed 

 with fine zigzag lines of dusky; tail, short, rounded, 

 and of a dull brownish black ; legs and feet, greenish 

 ash ; webs, black ; irides, rich orange ; stomach filled 

 with gravel and some vegetable food. 



In young birds the head and upper part of the neck 

 are purplish brown ; in some the chestnut ring on the 

 fore part of the middle of the neck is obscure, in others 

 very rich and glossy, and, in one or two specimens 

 which I have seen, it is altogether wanting. The back 

 is in some instances destitute of the fine powdered 

 particles of white, while in others these markings are 

 large and thickly interspersed. 



The specimen from which the description was taken, 



