54* PUCK. 



M. Gueldenftaedt, the author of the above, thinks this to be a 

 diftinft fpecies from the Tufted Duck, in which I cannot pofi- 

 tively contradift him. It mull however be confidered, that the 

 tufted fpecies varies exceedingly, and is not complete in plumage 

 till the fecond year. 

 Young. In the young bird * the head, neck,- and breaft, are chefnut 



brown, and very flightly crefted : the feathers at the bafe of the 

 bill of a pale yellow : back, wings, and tail black : breaft and 

 belly white j and a line of the fame acrofs the wings. 

 Varieties. Scopoli has alfo noticed three varieties, which differ in fize 



as well as plumage. The firft is fmaller than the Mallard, with 

 a black head, tinged with violet ; creft as long as the finger : the 

 body brown : rump footy and white mixed. 



The fecond variety is the fize of a Mallard. The bill yel- 

 lowifh : the head, and beginning of the n£ck, rufous j creft 

 ihort : the reft of the neck, the breaft, belly, and rump, black : 

 back brown : wings cinereous brown, margined with white : quills 

 white : at the bafe of each wing a white conic band : thighs 

 brown. 



The third is the fize of the firft. The head and creft rufous : 

 temples glofiy green : breaft whitifti, fpotted with black : belly 

 pure white : beneath the tail black: bafe of the wings brown, 

 beneath this a rufous band, then a fhining green one, and laftly 

 one of black : quills brown. 



From the above obfervations of authors, added to that of 

 our own, in refpedr. to the young bird, a fpecimen of which is 

 now before me, there is much reafon to fufpecl: that the whole 



• Anas latiroltra, Brun. p. 21. N° go. 



3 here 



