214 ORNAMENTAL WATERFOWL. 
inland waters. The Tufted Duck has since 1831 been an 
inhabitant of the Zoological Gardens, where in 1849 it 
hybridized with the White-eyed Duck, the produce continuing 
to breed until 1861 (P.Z.S., 1880). Yarrell has referred to a 
cross between a Carolina drake and a female Tufted Duck, 
mentioning that in the Belfast Museum there is a bird which 
was shot near Downpatrick, apparently a hybrid between the 
Tufted Duck and the Pochard. Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey 
states that a thousand have been seen collected together in 
Belfast Loch, one of its breeding places, as also in all the 
country watered by the Shannon. Of late years it has, no 
doubt owing to the better protection afforded it, nested in 
numerous parts of Scotland, where at one time it was only an 
occasional visitor. 
Being very hardy, as well as highly ornamental, it is a 
desirable addition to any collection, the young being easily 
reared under bantam hens. The following notes are from the 
pen of a practical ornithologist of Sussex, Mr. J. H. Verrall, 
well-known for his spirited appeal on behalf of the Wild Fowl 
of the Lewes Pells twenty years ago :— 
“The Tufted Duck is polygamous in the domesticated state, but is 
not quarrelsome, and several pairs may be kept together. They commence 
to make arrangements for nesting in April—building on the ground amongst 
nettles and dwarf plants, making a very small nest in which they lay from 
six to eight eggs, very large for the size of the bird, being nearly as large 
as the egg of the Common Duck. The young are hatched in three weeks, 
and follow their mother immediately. They will eat bread freely, and dive 
as soon as hatched, searching for shell-fish, &c., amongst the weeds; they 
also feed on the green weed which is found floating on ponds. The mother 
always keeps guard over them when on the water. They are very careful 
of their young, and are at times rather quarrelsome with other ducks, but 
are friendly with females of their own species. They grow very fast, being 
nearly as large as the parents when two months old. They should be 
pinioned when a month old by taking the first joint off one wing, with a 
sharp knife or a pair of pruning scissors. They do not breed until two 
years old.” 
