BIRDS 287 



the lake, but eventually took a short flight into the middle, 

 and pulling vigorously across to the other side, paddled quietly 

 round the edge until he regained the cover of sedge from which 

 he had originally started. Both on this occasion and on July 

 1 3th we searched carefully for the female. I fear that our 

 want of success may have been due to a fox having carried 

 her off. On the second investigation we flushed the solitary 

 drake from the side of the pond ; he was shedding the wing 

 quills and could only fly very imperfectly. He had now lost 

 his fine tassel, and his white sides were washed with brown, so 

 that he looked shabby and less spruce than three weeks earlier. 

 Mr. F. B. Whitlock reported to me that he met with three 

 Tufted Ducks on the Ravenglass estuary late in May 1890. 

 But in fact I have met with Tufted Ducks in Cumberland 

 at all seasons, and have little doubt that the species has 

 nested with us. I was positively assured that a pair nested 

 near Burgh in 1888, and that the young ducklings were 

 closely identified, and though I cannot vouch for this, I saw 

 a brood of young Tufted Ducks at Monkhill Lough on the 

 17th September, when of course they could fly well. In 1889 

 we observed three Tufted Ducks on the same water on the 31st 

 of August ; one was an old male, which from its ragged 

 appearance had probably bred, the tuft being nearly worn away 

 and the white sides variegated with brown. The other two 

 appeared to be an old female and a white-fronted bird of the 

 year, only a few weeks old. On seeing us they swam out from 

 the bank, the drake rising in the water to flap his white- 

 bordered wings, while his companions dived from ten to twenty 

 seconds, usually about ten seconds. During the summer of 

 1890, a single drake constantly frequented the same lough, and 

 was observed by Mr. J. N. Robinson and myself almost daily 

 until the middle of July, but we could never raise a female. 

 This solitary bird was a strong adult and full- winged. I 

 have many notes upon this species as observed at Thrustonfield, 

 but especially on Monkhill Lough, between 1883 and 1891, 

 and shall venture to quote some of the more recent. On the 

 17th of February 1890, the weather being mild and open, we 

 found eighteen Tufted Ducks at Monkhill Lough. They were 



