TUFTED DUCK. 
229 
278 . JNAS nirFiTORQcrES, bo . vaparte . 
AlfJS FULWULAy WILSON. TUFTED DUCK. 
''D.SON, TL.VTE LXVII, FIG. V EDINBURGH COLLEGE MUSEUM. 
„ This is an inhabitant of both continents ; it frequents 
.^esh water rivers, and seldom visits the sea .shore. It 
a plump, short bodied duck; its flesh jfenerally tender 
®'‘'d well tasted. They are much rarer than most of our 
®ther sjiecies, and are seldom seen in market. They 
^*■0 most common about the heginning' of winter, and 
*^3' in the spring. Being birds of passage, they leavo 
entirely during the summer. 
The tufted duck is seventeen inches long, and two 
®6t two inches in extent; the bill is broad and of a 
'*,iisky colour, sometimes marked round the nostrils and 
**'des with light blue ; head, crested, or tufted, as its 
"'tine expresses, and of a black colour, with reflections 
purple ; neck marked near its middle by a band of 
'^ep chestnut; lower part of the neck, black, which 
I'Pfeads quite round to the back ; back and sc.apulars, 
''lack, minutely powdered with particles of white, not 
I be observed but on a near inspection ; rump and vent, 
"l^o black ; wings, ashy brown ; secondaries, pale ash, 
bluish white; tertials, black, reflecting green; lower 
Puri of the breast and n hole belly, white ; flanks crossed 
^'ith line zigzag lines of dusk}!; tall, short, rounded, 
^"d of a dull brownish black ; legs and feet, greenish 
; webs, black ; irides, rich orange ; stomach tilled 
"ith gravel and some vegetable food. 
J-H young birds the liead and upper part of the neck 
ji"* purplish brown ; iu some the chestnut ring on the 
i""® part of the middle of the neck is obscure, in others 
rich and glossy, and, in one or two specimens 
)''oich I have seen, it is altogether wanting. The back 
ill some instances destitute of the tine powdered 
Particles of white, while in others these markings are 
*®i'fte and thickly' interspersed. 
The specimen from which the description was taken , 
