48 British Diving Ducks 
remarkable change. These parts, in certain individuals, become red-brown all over, edged 
with sandy-brown, whilst in others a number of the white feathers with brown upper 
portions are retained. I have killed a number of female Tufted Ducks in August, which 
were almost without a white feather on the breast, but the proportion of these dark females 
is about one in six. In September the adult females undergo a complete moult to the 
winter plumage. Bill of nesting female, black, with lead-blue at the end and sides. 
The blackish-brown crest on the head of the female is about i inch in length, and I 
have never seen one longer than 1.5 inch. Mr. Stuart Baker, usually very accurate, 
says that it is sometimes nearly 2 inches, but I think this must be an error. 
Length, 15.2 to 17 inches; wing, 7.6 to 8 inches; tarsus, 1.2 to 1.4 inch; bill from 
gape, 1.8 to 2 inches ; " weight, i lb. 5 oz. to i lb. 12 oz." (Hume). 
Immature Female. — In first plumage the young female is similar to the young male, 
but is always paler in colour. By October it is easily distinguished by the paler head 
and the difference in colour of the chest feathers, and the absence of the grey vermiculations 
in the mantle, scapulars, and back. The breast through the winter is white, and does 
not contain the broad brown feathers of the adult female, but the plumage of the upper 
parts of the body is the same as the adult female, except that it is paler. The crest is 
not assumed until the spring, and it is then very short. In fact the whole of the feathers 
of the upper chest and about the thighs and vent are pale-brown, and light compared 
to the adult. The patch behind the bill is not white, but pale brownish-grey. A moult 
to the adult plumage commences in December and proceeds until the end of March, when 
it is difficult to tell young birds of the previous year from old ones. Maturity may be 
said to be attained at nine months. At this age they will pair, but as a rule do not 
breed till the second spring. Only one pair of young Tufteds out of five showed any 
inclination to nest with Mr. Wormald. In the second spring the Tufted may be said 
to be fully adult. 
In all plumage changes of the Tufted Duck I find myself quite in agreement with 
Naumann, who summarises the chief moult as follows : — 
" The chief moulting of the males begins (under the same conditions as others) at the beginning 
of July, often even before June is over, and is ended by the beginning of August. They generally 
keep rather together at this time, in remote places where they have the sea quite near, and on it too, 
especially in the last weeks of this period, when the flight and tail feathers have come out, and until the 
new ones have grown they cannot fly. 
"The females, on the other hand, undergo their moulting much later if the young will soon be 
fledged, and often appear hunting with them in August, in the same condition. In October, with the 
adult male there occurs the ' beauty ' moulting, in which they exchange the preceding summer plumage 
for the ' wedding glory ' plumage, at which, however, they retain nearly all the wing and tail feathers. In 
November this exchange is in most cases completed, whereas in the younger males of this year it begins 
later and continues more slowly, so that on their departure, and in winter, many of these, indeed several 
of a preceding retarded brood, have not on their return in the spring, even at the beginning of the mating 
time, yet got their full 'wedding robe' quite completely." 
Breeding Range. 
British Isles — England: Yorkshire. — The first record of its breeding is mentioned in 
the Zoologist, 1850, p. 2879 (Saunders). Cf. Birds of Yorkshire. Now a regular breeder. 
Notts. — There are a few early records of breeding in Notts, as indicated in Rowley's 
