Tufted Duck 57 
to be attached to each separate cause of disturbance. Even the individual man is separated 
into various categories by them, for the stealthy gunner is avoided with greater care than 
the casual fisherman or the digging labourer. I have had difficulty in shooting a few 
Tufted Ducks in the spring-time on Loch Leven, and, when fishing for trout, the next 
day have been surrounded by them at close range. On small lakes and pools they are 
usually more confiding, and seem loath to leave them even when forced to wing. Females 
with young, too, show less fear of man than any other British duck. It is even possible 
to catch them by casting trout flies over them. Naumann instances a lake in Germany 
where these birds are so tame as to be regularly fed by the public from tthe bridge just as 
they are in St. James's Park. 
On shore they walk slowly and clumsily, with a decided roll. On the water they are 
expert divers, and, when feeding, keep in close companies. When feeding they dive all 
together or very quickly one after the other, remaining below from a few seconds to a 
minute (generally 50 seconds). They are very buoyant and rise to the surface with a 
"jump" at different points, when they at once reassemble and commence diving again. 
In this manner they spend a great part of the day. When at the bottom, in clear water, 
they probe the mud, sand, or pebbles in search of food, and, like the Golden-Eye, I have 
seen them turn over stones of considerable size with the bill. The food is swallowed 
under water as a rule, but if a fish, frog, or large piece of succulent root or vegetable 
matter is found it is brought to the surface and crushed or broken up before being 
swallowed. 
When diving for its food the Tufted Duck makes a full semicircle with the head and 
neck, and, giving a vigorous kick, passes quickly out of sight, leaving a boil on the troubled 
waters. It remains below the water from a few seconds to half a minute, and finds most 
of its food on the bottom. Like most of the freshwater diving ducks, it will take 
quantities of food on the surface such as flies, diptera, and duckweed, of which it is 
especially fond. Even when quietly preening on shore I have seen a Tufted Duck dash 
at and swallow a small frog that incautiously sprang into a shallow beside it. Most 
authorities speak of the food as being entirely animal, but this is not the case. Dresser, 
however, does not make this mistake, and correctly states that it will eat roots, seeds, and 
the buds of aquatic plants. I have never seen the Tufted Duck actually feed on land, for 
we must not regard habits developed in confinement as natural. Its chief food consists 
of aquatic animals of various kinds, freshwater mussels and snails, insects, frogs, and 
tadpoles. Various Tufted Ducks that I have kept in confinement caught quantities of flies, 
water-beetles, small fish, and ate large quantities of pond-weed. They can, however, be 
easily "fed off" on to grain. 
"In the stomachs of some killed in Bavaria," says Naumann, "Jackel found {yog. 
Bayenne, p. 337), fish-spawn, a grass frog [Rana esculenta\ mussels {Pisidum fontinale), 
the larvae of Phryganea and Ephemera, and the seeds of Polygonum ampkibium, Persicaria 
and Lapatkifolium, Rumex and Potamogeton" 
The stomachs of Tufted Ducks generally contain a quantity of sand, fine shells, or 
small stones. 
The usual cry, uttered by both sexes, but somewhat louder and harsher in the case 
of the female, is "korr, korr, korr," or " ka-ka-ka, karr." They emit this when rising- 
VOL. I. „ ^' 
