rUFTKl) DUCK. 
liowevor, tlie drake sliowed signs of life, and after a vain attempt to rise disappeared l)elow the surface 
As I saw he was hard hit and tlie Avater AA'as Avithout a ripple and as elear as glass, escape Avas evidentlv 
nnpossihle, so taking a 12-borc I stood up and aAvaited his appearance in order to administer the quietus 
After Avatching for a minute or tAvo some hnhhles Avere noticed coming to the surface, and on shoving up to 
the spot, I could plainly see him at the depth of about three or four feet struggling violently ayHIi his 
head held down as if in a noose. In a fcAv moments he Avas quiet, hanging like a criminal, only in the 
inverse manner, caught hy the neck. AVhile skimming along close to the weeds at the bottom his 
head must have become entangled Avith some of the long twining strands, and unable to free himself he 
had natAirallv sucenrahed to droAvnim;. 
The old drakes of this species do not, as a rule, arrive in any numbers on the Norfolk Avaters till severe 
weather has set in ; on the 4th of February, 1873, several were observed during the day on the open 
parts of llickTing Broad and also on the Sounds. While making our Avay slowly homewards in the 
punts through the broken ice, as darkness aavus setting in, a large flock of black and Avhite Pokers* Avere 
heard passing overhead. Judging their Avhereahouts hy the sound of their noisily heating pinions, I 
fired both barrels of a heavy 10-hore and a couple AA^rc heard to crash down on to the ice. One bird 
had fallen Avithin a fcAV yards of the boats, and being dimly visible on the rough snow-crusted ice, aa^us 
easily reached and proved to he a remarkably perfect Tufted drake. The second fowl appearing to have 
dropped into some thick coA'cr near a small island, AA'as left for the night, and on reaching the spot shortly 
after daybreak on the folloAving morning a Goldeneye drake in full plumage Avas discovered lying on 
the ice among the reeds. 
During the intense cold in January 1881, several flocks of Tufted Ducks came under my obseiwation, 
passing along the Sussex coast, about half or a quarter of a mile at sea otF Shoreham and Lancinij, makiu" 
their AAay toAA'ards the Avest. Small parties also and single birds frequented the harbour and the loAA^er 
pools in the river Adur, alighting Avhen a clmnce Avas offered, though but little rest could he obtained, 
OAving to the number of gunners lining the hanks adjoining the toAving-path. The food to he obtained 
in the large pools ol brackish Avater inside the shingle-hanks near Lancing AA’ere also a great attraction ; 
though repeatedly fired at and driven out to sea, they AAmre sure to return and settle doAvn again after 
having SAvept round the spot to ascertain Avhether any danger was to be apprehended. On the loth and 
again on the 17th, the day preceding the terrible gale and snoAV-storm that caused such destruction to 
bird-life, I AAms afloat in the gunning-punt, and remarked that although some hundreds of this species 
must liaA'C passed, only a single male in full plumage came in vicAA', flying straight out to sea from the 
harbour, apparently disgusted with the inhospitable reception met Avith inland. So severe Avas the frost on 
the days Ave AA'ere out in the Channel, that the Ban goon oil used to clean the action of the big gun 
froze in cakes on the metal, and the pin fitting into the socket of the sliding-knee had to he kejit in 
Avorking-order hy a constant application of paraffine. A few showing the various curious stages of 
immature plumage AA^ere shot about the pools and hackAA'aters in the salt-marshes during the first fcAv 
days after the storm ; these, hoAvever, merely indicated the usual changes gone through before arriving 
at maturity and need no description in these pages. 
AVhile shooting along the coast in the Avest of Sussex in the AAuntcr of 1874, I explored the estuaries 
and creeks about Bosham and EmsAvorth, and also the channels leading to Chiclicster harbour, and remarked 
that the Tufted Duck AAms spoken of hy the puntmen and shore-gunners of the district as the Covey Don. 
* Goldeneyes and Tufted Ducks often join in company when on the Norfolk Broads, and are generally considered hy the local gunners and 
marshmen to belong to one and the same species, the birds composing the various flocks being each and all known among the shooting community 
of tlie district as black and white Pokers. 
