141 



THE TUFTED DUCK. 



White-sided Diver. 



FuUgula cristata, Steph. 

 Anas fidigida, Linn. 



Is a regular winter visitant. 



AccoKDiNG to the testimony of an experienced fowler^ it is the 

 latest of the Fuligida arriving in Belfast Bay ; even the month 

 of December J, in which he killed the first birds seen by him there 

 in 1839 and 1840, being considered early. On fresh water, 

 to which these ducks are partial, they appear earlier ; — in the 

 middle of November I have observed them on Ballydrain Lake, 

 and have received specimens from Lough Neagh, among which 

 were adult males, as well as young birds. They have frequently 

 been brought to me from the latter locality from this period until 

 April ; December and January being the months in which they 

 were chiefly procured. But I have known them to remain there 

 until May, on the 4th of which I saw one, in 1850. 



At the beautiful sheet of water — Ballydrain Lake — this species 

 is seen to great advantage. The following one or two notes made 

 by a friend relate to it there : — When the lake was frozen over on 

 the 37th of January, 1833, in addition to a few wild ducks and teal, 

 a number of tufted ducks (of which some were old males) appeared 

 in company with pochards. During February, the tufted ducks con- 

 tinued there ; and on the 3rd of March, a very warm day for the 

 season, " twenty-six males, with fine crests and pure white sides, 

 and twenty-five females with apparently no crests, brownish sides, 

 and generally of a brownish-black colour, were congregated toge- 

 ther." Above a dozen of pochards, too, appeared, with their 

 bills concealed amid their dorsal plumage, — a favourite position 

 of the Fidigulce, when quietly resting on the calm waters of the 

 inland lake or of the sea by day ; — at full tide, in particular, they 

 are generally thus seen, sleeping, or enjoying their rest after the 

 toil of flight and feeding during the preceding night. There 



