BREEDING OF THE TUFTED DUCK. 507 



of these pretty birds swimming about. They are reputed to be 

 very wild and wary, but, at Ellesmere, being carefully protected, 

 they are unusually tame, and will often come within twenty 

 yards of the observer. Like other diving Ducks, they sit low in 

 the water. They are energetic divers ; and the drake is a hand- 

 some bird, conspicuous at a distance, and easily distinguished by 

 his white flanks and black back. The female is of a dark 

 brown hue. Mr. Tower, who has observed the birds on the 

 meres continuously for many years, tells me that, although the 

 Tufted Duck visits Ellesmere regularly every winter in large 

 numbers, not a single pair has ever been known to remain to 

 breed. This is the more remarkable as there are so many 

 suitable meres there, and they breed at Sandford only eight 

 miles away. 



Messrs. Coward and Oldham, in their new book on the 

 'Birds of Cheshire' (1900), also state that the Tufted Duck has 

 not been known to breed in Cheshire, though suitable nesting 

 places are abundant in that county. 



At Sandford Pool, near Whitchurch, Salop, close to the 

 Cheshire border, four pairs of Tufted Ducks came and nested 

 in 1891, in the reedy marsh at the northern end, and they have 

 continued to do so ever since. Strange to say, there have always 

 been neither more nor less than four pairs, while — unlike the 

 Weston Park birds — they have not become residents. They 

 arrive each year early in March ; nest towards the end of May ; 

 and leave, with the young, about the beginning of November. 

 The young birds, which number about thirty each year, do not 

 return to their native pool. There is no apparent reason why 

 the birds should not winter here, and so become residents, as at 

 Weston. We can only surmise that the hereditary instinct is so 

 strong that, when the usual time of migration arrives, they 

 feel impelled to depart, though they might just as well stay 

 where they spent the summer. Although I have no proof to 

 give, I fancy that the Ducks at Sandford only go away as far as 

 Ellesmere, and join company with the crowds that are migrating 

 just at that time. If so, the four pairs at Sandford are pro- 

 bably the same individuals year after year, whilst their progeny — 

 instead of returning with them to Sandford — depart northwards 

 with their Ellesmere companions. 



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