TUFTED DUCKS AND FISH. [To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."1
Sut,—In the article in your last issue headed "The Birds of Reservoirs" the writer alludes to the tufted duck, and describes it as "a sea species, feeding on fish." The tufted duck is essentially a fresh-water bird, and seldom visits tidal waters. Personally, I have never even seen one on the sea, though large numbers on inland meres. As to its feeding on fish, neither the tufted duck nor any other of its kind ever feeds Thirkleby Park.
[The following interesting account by an eye-witness of a tufted duck fishing is given in the fine history of "The Birds
of Devon" written by Mr. W. S. D'Urban, F.L.S., and the Rev. Murray Matthews, a member of the British Ornithologists' Union, published by R. H. Porter, 1895. The authors
"We had the pleasure of watching a Sin male tufted duck swimming in an open space ammg the ice that at the time covered the Exe, a mile above Topsham. We saw it come up from a dive with a lively eel in its bill, and pass it through its mandibles from side to side, probably to crush the bones, and beat it about in the water a good deal. At last it swallowed its captive, but the eel had not been long down the bird's throat before it wriggled up again, when the process of crushing and beating it was repeated. While watching this duck a female
red-breasted merganser settled close by it. The merganser
appeared to use the same means of crippling its prey as the duck, but did not take so long about it. The duck remained longer under the water, but did not catch so many fish ; it may probably have found other things at the bottom of the river. We found many small shells in the stomach of a female shot on the Esc' In Mr. Howard Saunders's "Manual" it is stated that it is found "on our low-lying coasts, estuaries, and lakes, and that the flesh is tolerably good when it has been eating aquatic plants, but as soon as it has taken to animal food, whether on fresh or salt water, the result is unsatisfactory." Personally, the writer has only seen these birds in any number on inland lakes, especially in the hinterland" of Norfolk and in the Mid- lands; but as Sir Ralph Payne Gallwey himself states in the volume of the "Badminton Library" dealing with wild-fowl that "this pretty little duck is scattered all over our shores and in- land waters about the end of October," and, again, that " during hard winters tufted duck may be seen in numbers both on salt and fresh waters," it is clearly a case in which authorities
differ. There is a great deal of food at the bottom of the water, crustaceans, small shell-fish, and other creatures, which, though they are not strictly speaking " fish " any more than are lobsters, probably form a larg3 part of the food of diving ducks.—THE WRITER OF THE ARTICLE ON "TEE BIRDS OF RESERVOIRS."]
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