TUFTED DUCK.
This species, the Anas fuligula of Linnæus, and the Fuligula cristata of most modern ornithologists, is a fairly common winter visitor to the British coasts. It is not so exclusively a marine species as some of the other diving Ducks, being often met with on inland waters during that season. The Tufted Duck derives its name from the bushy crest or tuft of feathers growing from the top of the head, and drooping down over the back of the neck on the male. The head, neck, and crest are glossy black, shot with purple and green; the upper parts, the breast and the under tail coverts, are black; the remainder of the underparts and the alar speculum are white. In the female, the black is replaced by dark brown, and the white with brownish-gray: the white speculum remains. Many Tufted Ducks breed, and are apparently resident in our islands in certain inland districts; but the majority of the birds that occur round the coasts are migrants from the north. This Duck begins to arrive off the British coasts towards the end of October, and continues to do so into November. It remains in our area until the following spring, passing north in March and April. Its principal haunts are the more low-lying coasts, especially in the vicinity of estuaries and mud-banks. It is gregarious enough at this season, some of the flocks consisting of many thousands of birds. In its habits generally, it very closely resembles the Scaup Duck, a species whose company it often keeps. It swims in much the same low manner, dives with equally marvellous adeptness, and shows the same propensity for keeping well out to sea during the day, coming shorewards and into shallower water at night to feed. It rises from the sea in the same apparently laboured way, striking the water with its feet—the splashing thus made by a flock of birds being audible for a long distance. Its alarm note during winter is a harsh kurr, but the bird is not a very noisy one. The food of this Duck consists of molluscs, small fish, and the roots, stems, leaves, and buds of various water plants—all of which is obtained by diving, the bird sometimes remaining beneath the surface for as long as a minute.
The Tufted Duck retires to inland waters for the summer, its favourite resorts being meres, lakes, and marshy grounds full of small ponds. A partiality is also shown for small pools on heaths, or fairly well-timbered ground. This Duck probably pairs for life; in the breeding season it is certainly social, many males consorting together, and many females making their nests within a small area. The nest is usually made in a tussock of sedge, beneath a bush, or amongst rushes and coarse grass, and is a mere hollow lined with a little dry vegetation, and an abundance of down from the female. The eggs are usually from eight to ten in number, and greenish-buff. They are laid, according to locality, from April to June. The female alone brings up the young. Outside our islands, the Tufted Duck breeds in the Arctic or temperate parts of Europe and Asia, visiting the southern portions of those continents, as well as North Africa, during winter.