TUFTED DUCK 231 



Male in Eclipse: "Head and neck are all round brown-black, feathers of chin, throat and fore-neck 

 with brownish white bases more or less exposed; black crest usually shed or much worn; mantle and 

 scapulars as in winter but duller black and with less green gloss, feathers of whole mantle dusted with 

 tiny white specks; remaining upper parts as in winter; upper breast brown-black, feathers narrowly 

 (those bordering lower breast broadly) fringed white; sides of body and flanks pale drab, some feath- 

 ers vermiculated greyish white and intermixed with white feathers vermiculated drab; lower belly 

 and vent white, feathers more or less vermiculated dusky and intermixed with drab feathers more or 

 less vermiculated whitish; under tail-coverts brown -black, some white vermiculated dusky; tail 

 and wings as in winter" (Witherby et al., 1919-22). 



DISTRIBUTION 



The Tufted Duck is one of the commonest pala?arctic species, its range extending in the Old World 

 from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It appears to be a rather local duck in its distribution, _ . 



especially in the breeding season, when it is abundant in certain localities and almost 

 absent from others near by. At the same time it seems to have isolated breeding areas quite apart 

 from the regular range. 



Breeding Range 



This species has recently been found nesting in Iceland (fide Hartert, 1920a) and there are a number 

 of records of its occurrence there in summer, which have been catalogued by Hantzsch Europe 

 (1905). It probably does not nest regularly on the Faroes, though it is said to have Iceland 

 done so in 1872 (Collin, fide Dresser, 1871-81). Considerable numbers are occasionally Faroes 

 seen on the Shetlands in summer, but these are presumably non-breeding birds, as no Shetlands 

 nests have yet been found (A. H. Evans and Buckley, 1899). 



In the British Isles a great transformation has taken place in the status of this duck as a breeding 

 species. Up to the year 1900 it could not be considered as anything but a local nester, while at the 

 present it is both common and widely distributed, nesting in practically all counties of British 

 Scotland, England and Ireland, from the Orkneys and Hebrides south (Seebohm, 1885; Isles 

 H. Saunders, 1899; Ussher and Warren, 1900; Millais, 1913; Witherby et al, 1919-22; Savage, 1922; 

 et midt. al.). 



On the Continent a limited number breed in Norway, especially in the north (Collett, 1873; 

 Schaanning, 1913) and the same is true of Sweden (Nilsson, 1858). In Finland, on the Norway 

 other hand, it is an abundant breeder, more so in the north, as well as in Lapland. „ , 

 Small numbers nest about Borga, Helsingfors and Abo, as well as at Uleaborg (Dresser, 

 1871-81 ; Palmgren, 1913) while on Kallavesi Lake, central Finland, it is fairly common 

 (Suomalainen, 1908). In northern Finland and in Lapland it is everywhere abundant, as far north 

 as Enare and to 69° north latitude (Wallengren, 1854; Palmen, 1876; S. A. Davies, 1905; Finnila, 

 1913, 1914; Montell, 1917; etc.). 



According to "G. L." (1918), writing in the London Field, a few Tufted Ducks nest in Denmark, 

 but the only definite record I can find is one for 1834 (Dresser, 1871-81). But it does D enmar k 

 nest in Holstein (Naumann, 1896-1905), as well as in Mecklenburg (Wiistnei, 1902), 

 Brunswick, Pomerania (Naumann, 1896-1905), Brandenburg (Schalow, 1915), Dan- 

 zig (Ibarth, 1915), East Prussia (Geyr von Schweppenburg, 1913; Tischler, 1914), Lusatia (Hantzsch, 

 1903) and Saxony (Naumann, 1896-1905). There are no records of its nesting in southern Ger- 

 many, and only a few doubtful ones for Liman, Switzerland (Fatio, 1904), though it c_jx__ 

 nests commonly in Holland at Nadermeer Lake. There are no records of breeding in j an( j 

 Belgium, and the record for St. Omer (Norguet, fide Paris, 1907) is the only one given _ 

 for France, though Rogeron (1903) says he has seen specimens in summer near Angers 



