28 o



The Tufted Duck.



and brushwood had been fixed, and disappeared through an

opening into the outer aviary. Getting a pair of steps I soon

discovered a nest containing two creamy-white eggs. With this

species as with all of the Pigeon tribe, so far as I am aware, the

male sits during the greater part of the day, the female taking

his place during the late afternoon and sitting throughout the

night. One egg eventually disappeared from this nest, probably

having been knocked out by one of the birds as it dashed from

the nest. The other successfully hatched, I cannot say the exact

date as I was most careful to go near the nest as seldom as

possible, but on May 26th I looked in the nest and discovered a

plump black squab, evidently hatched two or three days before.

When it left the nest (June 13th) it appeared to be identical with

the young of C. indica, but somewhat larger. As I write (June

17th) it is able to fly well, though it still frequently returns to

the nest.


Green-winged Pigeons of both species are apt to be very

pugnacious towards other doves, especially when about to com¬

mence nesting, but taking them all round they are most attractive

birds and their beauty is almost unsurpassed so far as the

graminivorous Doves are concerned.



THE TUFTED DUCK.


By Hugh Wormald.


Having, more or less successfully, reared a brood of Tufted

Ducks (Fuligula cristata ) under a hen last summer, I venture to

give my experience.


I obtained ten eggs and put them under a wild duck, in¬

cubation lasting, I think, twenty-four days (but I have no notes

and am trusting to memory). The duck successfully hatched

nine, and then my troubles began. The wild duck proved to be

a very bad foster-mother; she would have nothing to do with the

young Tufted Ducks at all. I think the reasons of this were

that it was late in the season (end of June), and that a wild duck,

as far as my experience goes, always covers her young for at

least twelve hours after hatching, whereas the Tufted Ducks were



