DIVING DUCKS. 



TUFTED DUCK.— Plate 95. Length, 17 inches. 

 Entirely black, except the speculum, the belly, and 

 flanks, which are white ; bill, legs, and feet blue- 

 gray ; iris yellow. Female: brown generally ; abdo- 

 men whitish. The male resembles the female in 

 summer. Eesident. 



Eggs.— 8-13, greenish -buff;: 2-3 >< 1-5 inches 

 (plate 132). 



Nest. — With the usual lining of the bird's own 

 down, and placed among sedges or other coarse 

 growth ; at times beneath a bush. 



Though breeding in many parts of England, Scot- 

 land, and Ireland where suitable inland waters occur, 

 the Tufted Duck is more numerous in winter as the 

 result of extensive immigration. It may be met on 

 the coasts, but is found chiefly on the larger inland 

 lakes, breeding exclusively in such spots. No Ducks 

 are more easily identified as they sit on the water — 

 little fleets of black craft with white paddle-boxes, 

 the line of division between the black and the white 

 parts springing from the breast, and after arching 

 over the sides of the body, curving down to the black 

 root of the tail, the white parts being thereby de- 

 fined as a half-moon, with the surface of the water 

 for horizon. The Tufted Duck is a diver, descend- 

 ing to tear up the aquatic growth from the bottom 

 of not too deep water, and bringing it to the surface 

 to dissect. It also feeds largely on animal matter in 



