30 BULLETIN 130, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



I cannot remember that I have ever heard its note, but Dr. D. G. 

 Elliot (1898) says that "it utters at times a single guttural note, 

 which sounds like a small edition of the hoarse roll of the canvas- 

 back and other large diving ducks." 



L. R. Dice (1920) says of its notes: 



As a rule they are silent ; only on a few occasions were any calls heard. 

 Once while driving a pair in front of a blind to take pictures, the male and 

 female became separated. Then the male gave a squeaky call, which the 

 female answered with a hoarse quack, quack, and the male immediately flew 

 to her side. At another time a female alighted in an eddy of the river and 

 gave a low call, quk, quk, quk, quk, quk, quk, quk, slowly, and the male in a 

 few minutes appeared and alighted beside her. 



Fall. — In the fall this species is one of the later migi'ants, coming 

 along with the hardier winter ducks. It is not of much account as 

 a game bird; its body is small and its flesh is not particularly de- 

 sirable, as it feeds so largely on animal food. It is, however, often 

 very fat, from which it has derived the name of " butterball." It 

 is apparently not regularly hunted or sought for by gunners, but is 

 often shot while hunting other species. 



Winter. — ^W. L. Dawson (1909) says of the habits of this species 

 on the coast of Washington : 



Buffleheads are among our most abundant ducks in fall and winter through- 

 out the State. They are found alike in swift rivers and on placid mill ponds. 

 Brackish pools and tide channels, tide flats, and tossing billows, all are alike 

 to these happy and hardy little souls. Perhaps the greatest number, however, 

 are found upon the bays and shallower waters of Puget Sound. They associate 

 chiefly in little flocks of from half a dozen to 50 individuals, and they venture 

 inshore, as often as they dare, to feed on the rising tide. When they reach 

 us in October they are fat as butter (whence, of course, "butterball"), but 

 they have gained their flesh on the cleaner feeding grounds of the northern 

 interior. On a fare of fish and marine worms, which they obtain in salt water 

 almost entirely by diving, their flesh soon becomes rank and unprofitable. 



M. P. Skinner has sent me the following notes on the habits of 

 buffleheads in Yellowstone Park : 



As a rule these ducks are on the larger waters such as Yellowstone Lake 

 and Yellowstone River, resorting to smaller lakes and ponds at very infre- 

 quent intervals. In stormy times, they are driven to quieter waters, but even 

 then prefer to find a calm spot near shore of Yellowstone Lake or a back 

 water on the river. When on streams, they do not care for the swifter water. 

 They are fond of sitting on sand bars, gravel bars, mud points, and on the 

 beaches about Yellowstone Lake. Many of these birds are to be seen all winter 

 in openings in the ice on the lake, and on the river where kept ice-free by 

 the current, along the Firehole Eiver kept open by hot geyser water, and on 

 tlie Gardiner River below the mouth of warm Boiling River. They are social 

 and keep together, in small, compact flocks. Similar food habits bring them 

 in close contact with some ducks and the limited open water in winter with 

 others. In these ways, they are often with mergansers, Barrow goldeneye, 

 American goldeneye, canvasbacks, redheads, bluebills, coot, grebes, mallard, 



