84 BIRDS OK ONTARIO. 



tribution, bieetiing only (?) in high latitudes, and ])eneti-atiiig but a 

 limited distance south in wintei-. Its claim to a place in the present 

 connection rests upon its occurrence in the Rocky Mountains as far 

 south as Utah, where it was procurefl l)y Mr. H. W. Henshaw ; on 

 the eastern coast it occurs as far south in wintei' as New York." 



Mr. Edwin Carter was the first to find the nest and eggs of this 

 species. He met with them in the mountains of Colorado in 187G. 



Dr. Bell mentions its occurrence at Hudson's Bay, and it has been 

 obtained in Manitoba, l)ut only as a rare stragglei*. 



Genus CHAKITONETTA Stk.ixkcjkh. 

 CHARITONETTA ALBEOLA (Lixx.). 



53. Buffle-headed Duck. (153) 



Somewhat similar to the rlaiujula a/iK-ricaiia in color, l)iit nia/i- with tlieliead 

 particularly puffy, of varied rich iridescence, with a large wliite aiu-ieulai- patch 

 confluent with its fellow on the nape ; small. Length, 14-16; wing, ()-7 ; hill, 1. 

 with nostrils in its basal half. F(0)mlf: — Still smallei-, an insignificant looking 

 ihick, with head scarcely ])utiy, dark gray, with traces of the \\hite aui'iculai- 

 patch. 



Hab. — North Amei'ica, south in winter to Culia and Mexico, iireeils fi'om 

 Maine northward, through the fur countries and Alaska. 



Dr. Coues (Birds N. -W., 575) describes the nest of this diujk jilaced in tlic 

 hollow of a dead tree, and composed of feathers. 



The eggs, from si.\ to fourteen in number, are desciihed as \aryiiig fmiii Imti' 

 to a creamy-white or grayish-olive cf)loi'. 



The Buffle-heads are connnoii at all the shooting stations in South- 

 ern Ontario in spring and fall, but owing to theii' small si/c they are 

 not much sought aftei'. The male in full spiing dress is a very hand- 

 some little fellow, and, like many other animals of diminutive propor- 

 tions, .seems to feel himself as big as any of those about him. I have 

 in my collection a young male of this sj)ecies of a uniform cream 

 color, which was slK)t in Hamilton Bay a few years ago. 



Mr. Saunders mentions that a few pairs Ijreed at St. Claii- Flats. 

 Throughout the North- West their distribution seems to be somewhat 

 irregular. Macoun says of them : "Abundant in the i)onds in the 

 autumn, not seen in the prairie regions. " While Thompson, writing 

 from Carberry, says: " Connnon sunmier resident, Itreeding also at 

 west slope of Duck Mountain, l^ortage la Prairie." 



Fnmi Alaska, the reports are similar. Nelson says : " liischotl 

 found it at Sitka, and at the Yukon mouth Dall iKjtes them as 



