The Tufted Duck. 151 



blackisli colour, and often mixed with white feathers, which may come from the 

 breast of the male bird. When the young are hatched they are cared for by the 

 female only, the selfish male retiring with his fellows to assume the " eclipse " 

 plumage, which is of a dull chocolate colour. 



Tufted Ducks are very expert divers, and when diving for weeds Mr. Whitaker 

 says, remain immersed for fifteen seconds ; they are, . however, as I can testify, 

 capable of remaining underneath much longer than this, and quite as long as a 

 Goldeneye. Their food is fresh-water insects and small pond shells, with the 

 shoots of various aquatic weeds. The flesh is considered fairly palatable, but in 

 this, as in so many other cases, much depends on the nature -of their food, and 

 proper dressing and cooking. Lord Lilford thinks the flesh, when living on fresh 

 water, far superior to the Pochard. 



The flocks of immigrant Tufted Ducks which arrive in the autumn frequent 

 both the sea coast, the estuaries of rivers, and inland waters. The Sea Ducks, 

 however, come inland to feed at night, but whether this is their regular custom, 

 or only the result of bad weather at sea, I am unable to say. 



In the " Zoologist," 1887, pp. 342-4, Mr. Robert Service gives an interesting 

 account of the recent breeding of the Tufted Duck on lochs in Kirkcudbrightshire. 

 In one case the female appearing on the loch with eight little dusky young, on 

 July 2 1 St. When approached by a boat the mother feigned inability to fly, and 

 fluttered along the water, the young commencing diving incessantly, she frequently 

 returned within eight or nine yards of the boat, and finally gathering her ducklings 

 took refuge in the reeds. Mr. Whitaker remarks in the " Zoologist," 1887, p. 236, 

 that the Tufted Ducks are in full breeding plumage by the end of March, and 

 have a very pleasant note or number of notes during the pairing time, resembling 

 the words "/«c, tuc, tuck; quit, quit, quitta ; wheeou, whit; quit, quit, quee." At all 

 other times the ordinary, or perhaps the alarm note, is currugh or kur-ruk. The 

 " Black and White Curre," a name by which it is known in the west of England, 

 is suggestive of its call. The alarm note of the Common Pochard is exactly the 

 same, and it is the " dun curre" The extreme scarcity of this little Duck at Heli- 

 goland is remarkable — in extremely isolated cases in severe winters, and it is not 

 seen at other seasons of the year. 



The Tufted Duck is a very plump and compact bird, much resembling 

 the Scaup in colour. The head, crest, and upper neck in the adult male, black, 

 shot with green and purple reflections ; the upper parts brownish-black, spotted 

 all over with minute whitish spots; the breast and flanks white; when the 

 birds are rolling on short waves at sea, the white sides of the males shew 

 conspicuously in contrast to the dark upper plumage. The bill is slate-grey ; legs 



