54 British Diving Ducks 
Japan. — Seebohm {B.Jap. Empire, p. 255). 
Kuriles. — (Snow). 
Malay Archipelago. — Stragglers recorded from Philippines (Steere, List of B. and M., 
p. 27, Basilan), Borneo {Ibis, 1890, p. 263), Great Sunda Islands, Marianne Islands (Lesson, 
Traite d'Ornith., p. 632 (1831). {Cf. Wiglesworth, Aves Polyn., p. 60, 1891, and Cat. Birds, 
Br. Mus., xxvii., p. 365, note). Pelew Isles (Hartland and Finsch, P. Z. S., 1868, pp. 4 and 9, 
and 1872, p. 90, y. jF. O., 1910, p. 479 ; Neuer Naumann, p. 141. Also casual in Greenland, 
Idis, i860, p. 166). Commander Isles (Stejneger, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., x. p. 137). 
Habits. — Throughout its range the Tufted Duck is essentially an inhabitant of open 
sheets of fresh water, preferring those of moderate size that have a considerable depth in 
the centre, and whose shallows are overgrown with reeds and other aquatic plants. They 
also like lakes with numerous islands and backwaters, not too narrow, where they can sit 
and preen in the shallows in non-feeding hours, and whose vegetation gives them protection 
from the wind. In fact, all ducks that frequent open lakes of fresh water dislike draughts 
and take full advantage of the cover that grows along the banks, either sitting under the 
lee, or resting and diving at such a distance from shore that some protection is afforded. It 
is only in still weather or moderate breezes that they assemble in numbers on the open and 
deep parts of a lake, or when subject to frequent disturbance. 
During the late autumn and early winter we see very great companies of these 
ducks such as are to be noticed on the jheels of India in the winter months, but nowhere 
are they to be seen in big bands in the British Islands except on Loch Leven in Scot- 
land. Here is the true home of the Tufted Duck in Great Britain, an ideal resort of shallow 
bays and abundant food. It is no exaggeration to say that any time in late October or 
early November the observer can see companies of four and five hundred of these ducks 
together on a still day. Acres of water are sometimes covered with Tufteds and Pochards, 
and the roar of their wings as they rise can be heard at a considerable distance. In 
this fine sanctuary they are seldom shot or disturbed, but of late years they have increased 
to such an extent as to occupy the breeding ground of many increasing and more interesting 
species such as Wigeon, Gadwall, Pintail, &c., so that in 191 1 Sir Basil Montgomery, the 
proprietor, gave orders for the eggs to be cleared from two small islands. The result was 
three large hampers full, containing some hundreds of eggs. Though Tufted Ducks are 
very numerous in winter in some of the Norfolk and Nottinghamshire lakes and the large 
lakes of Central and West Ireland, they afford no comparison to the numbers to be seen at 
all seasons on Loch Leven, and a visit to this interesting lake in spring or late autumn is 
one that ever remains green in the memory of every naturalist who has had the good fortune 
to experience it. 
As the winter advances large companies of Tufted Ducks split up into smaller ones, 
so that by the end of March it is unusual to see packs of more than a dozen or twenty 
together. These are, as a rule, old birds, for the immatures of the previous year's hatching 
are always inclined to pack until the pairing season, when they too form into smaller flocks. 
On English lakes Tufteds are usually to be seen in small companies, or one which com- 
prises the whole of the birds frequenting the lake. They often keep near other species, 
such as Pochards, Mallard, or Wigeon, but do not actually mix with them, and on rising 
they separate, and after wheeling round several times, depart on a line of their own. 
