THE TUFTED DUCK. 
145 
In the characters which come under “ form,” this bird differs only from F. cris- 
tata in the shape of the upper mandible, which is narrow generally, and increases 
more in breadth towards the point. 
Colour. In several points of view it appears the young male F. cristata as- 
suming in part the adult plumage, which the next moult would have rendered com- 
plete. It has the entire head and neck, except in the following particulars, marked 
with the green and violet or purple reflections of the tufted duck, though less bright,, 
also the crest only partially developed ; the exceptions are that the throat is pure 
white for an inch from the base of lower inaudible; and that, about inches from 
upper surface of head, the neck is surrounded (except for four lines at the back) with 
a pure w r hite collar about a quarter of an inch in breadth. This collar is not exactly 
transverse, but rises higher in front than elsewhere. Plumage of the back, rump, 
and tail only differing from that of F. cristata in being less dark in general hue. 
Wings differing only in the primaries and greater coverts, and in the latter on the 
left wing only, but here in a remarkable manner. In the right wing the first five 
primaries are pure white including shafts, the sixth has white down its centre on the 
inner web only, the succeeding are of the ordinary colour of those on the old 
male tufted duck ; in this wing the greater coverts are Hack. In the left wing the 
greater coverts are pure white , including shafts ; the first three primaries are pure 
white, including shafts ; the fourth, fifth, and sixth pure white, except the shafts and 
a narrow line of black on either side of them, w r hich is carried to the point ; the 
succeeding ones are entirely dark at the tip, but above it, as in the right wing, are 
of a dull white on the outer web, like that of the old male F. cristata. The entire 
breast and the under parts have the plumage partly of the immature, and partly of the 
mature male tufted duck, — in this respect just like the head. The colour of the bill 
differs only from that of F. cristata in having the nail of the under mandible white, 
and a considerable part of this mandible pale horn-colour. The legs and feet differ 
in colour from those of the tufted duck in being generally of a rather paler hue ; in 
having the outer nail on both feet white and pale horn-colour, and a blotch of white 
on the adjoining web ; this latter marking, too, being present on both feet towards the 
margin of the membrane connecting the middle and inner toes. 
February 19, 1838. — I received the trachea of an adult male F. cristata ; and, on 
comparing it with Mr. Dombrain’s sketch of that taken from his bird, found them 
quite identical in form. 
The irides of a few specimens examined by me were bright 
gamboge-yellow in the adult male and female, and in the latter, 
when immature, brownish-yellow. 
The tufted duck is considered rare on the north-west coast of 
Donegal.* In the little inland lakes of the county Armagh, it is 
the most common species of duck during winter, and remains un- 
til a late period of the spring ; as many as fifty may sometimes be 
YOL. III. 
* Mr. J. V. Stewart. 
L 
