xNOTES. 97 



along a wide dyke, which ran along one side of a bed of high 

 reeds. On nearing an angle of the reed bed I noticed a female 

 Pochard {Fuligula ferina) swimming hurriedly away as if 

 she had just left her nest. I got out of the punt and searched 

 the corner of the reed bed, when I very soon discovered the 

 nest containing seven young Pochards, just hatched, one 

 duckling being not yet dry. While examining and trying 

 to photograph the nest the duck flew round quite close, so I 

 was certain of her identity. The nest was about eighteen inches 

 high, composed of pieces of dry reed, and had practically 

 no down or feathers in it ; in fact, except for the ducklings 

 and the broken eggshells, one might have supposed that the 

 nest was that of a Coot. 



R. Sparrow. 



UNUSUAL NESTING SITES AND INCUBATION PERIOD 

 OF THE TUFTED DUCK. 



On June 17th, 1908, I found on a small island rock a nest of 

 a Tufted Duck {Fuligula cristata) in a water- worn crevice, 

 having cover from all sides except the south, with an over- 

 hanging rock giving partial cover from above. The nest wa& 

 made of dry rush, grass, moss, and a few green fern leaves ; 

 there were five eggs, on which the bird was sitting, but there 

 was little, if any, down. 



On June 20th, 1908, on a wooded island, I found a Tufted 

 Duck's nest among bushes, with a dead branch overhanging 

 one side of it. South-west of it was a rock ; north of it a large 

 stone ; east of it a small stone ; to the south of it a sallagh, 

 probably Salix caprea. The floor of the nest was made of 

 dead leaves, the sides of it were almost entirely of down, with 

 a very few dead leaves and small dead twigs, and the occur- 

 rence of these two latter may have been accidental. As at 

 the bottom of the nest there was the skin of an egg, it seem& 

 probable the site had been used before. There were ten eggs. 

 I have by no means infrequently found the nest of this species 

 under bushes, but I do not remember one placed as this one 

 was, right inside a covert. 



There is no doubt birds adapt themselves to their surround- 

 ings, but it seems curious that they should select an unusual 

 site without immediately at hand the usual materials for a 

 nest, when plenty of such ground is to be found close by. 



On May 29th last on a lake island in Ireland I found a 

 nest of the Tufted Duck with eight eggs. I am all but certain 

 I put the bird off it, but the one egg I took from the nest 

 when blown showed no trace of incubation. I replaced, within 



