Anseres 157 



The male Tufted Duck {N. fuligula) is black, with 

 a fine black crest, a white breast and wing-bar ; the 

 female is blackish brown, barred with grey below. It 

 ranges from the Arctic Circle to mid-Europe and Asia, 

 being therefore a rather more northerly species than 

 the Pochard. In Britain it has increased enormously 

 during the last half century and breeds from Shetland 

 to the British Channel, where lakes or even large 

 ponds are available. It is still somewhat local, but 

 the present writer once found over fifty nests on one 

 lake. The fabric is of grass, rather than of reeds or 

 sedge, which the Pochard prefers, and the site is near 

 or on dry land, but the eggs, of a duU green colour 

 and often up to a dozen in number, are hardly dis- 

 tinguishable from those of the Pochard, though they 

 are generally elongated and less broad. The Tufted 

 Duck has a guttural voice, and feeds in the same way 

 as the last-named species. Large numbers of both 

 visit us for the winter. 



The Scaup Duck {N. marila) also comes to us in 

 large flocks, but they stay on the mud flats and rocky 

 shores to a much greater extent than their congeners. 

 In fact it is only since the beginning of the century 

 that the bird has been proved to breed in Britain, 

 both on the mainland of Scotland and in the Orkneys 

 and Hebrides. Abroad its distribution is over Arctic 

 Europe, Asia, and America, but it comparatively 

 seldom nests south of the Baltic. In Iceland it is very 

 common. The harsh cry is said to resemble the word 

 " scaup," but the bird's name is possibly derived from 

 the mussel " scalps " or " scaups " where it regularly 

 feeds, on a diet similar to that of other sea-faring 

 ducks. The nest of rough herbage is placed in thick 



