48 EGGS OF BEITISH BIRDS. 



small eggs of that species are indistinguishable from large eggs of 

 the Tufted Duck. 



THE BUFFEL-HEADED DUCK. 

 {Fuligula albeola.)* 



The Buffel-headed Duck is only a rare accidental visitor to 

 Great Britain. It breeds throughout Arctic America up to the 

 limit of forest-growth, wintering in the United States, the West 

 Indies, and on the coasts of Mexico. It has once been obtained 

 in Greenland, and occasionally visits the Bermudas, but there is 

 no evidence that it has ever occurred on any part of the continent 

 of Europe. 



It breeds in hollow trees, sometimes as high as twenty feet 

 from the ground. Like the Golden-eye it makes no nest, but lays 

 its eggs on the rotten wood, with abundance of down plucked from 

 its own breast. 



The eggs of the Buffel-headed Duck are from six to ten in 

 number, pale greenish-grey in colour, and vary in length from 

 205 to 1'95 inch, and in breadth from 1'5 to 135 inch. They very 

 closely resemble eggs of the Gadwall, but it is probable that the 

 down is quite different from that of the latter bird. The Buffel- 

 headed Duck, breeding in hollow trees, has doubtless pale grey 

 down like that of the Golden-eye. 



THE GOLDEN-EYE. 



{Fuligula clangula.) t 

 Plate 13, Fig. 1. 



The Golden-eye is a common and regular winter visitor to the 

 British Islands. It is a circumpolar bird, breeding in the Arctic 

 and semi-Arctic regions of both continents up to the limits of 

 forest-growth. In Europe the southern limit of its breeding- 

 range appears to be North Germany, Pomerania, and the Cau- 

 casus, whilst in Asia it breeds throughout Siberia. It is said to be 

 a resident on Lake Baikal; but most of the Siberian birds migrate 

 to Mongolia, where a few remain to winter, the rest passing on to 



* Clangula albeola — Saunders, Manual, p. 440. Charitonetta albeola — Sharpe, Handb., 



III., p. 24. 



t Clangula glaucion — Saunders, Manual, p. 439. Clangula clangula — Sharpe, 



Handb. III., p. 20. 



