THE BUFFLE-HEADED DUCK. 139 



head, excepting the broad, white band extending from behind 

 eyes around the back of the head and upper part of the neck, 

 including the long thick feathers of the latter, is black, with 

 green and purple reflections; the back, tail, and greater part 

 of the wings are black; remaining parts white. The female, 

 which is still smaller, and destitute of the puffed plumage 

 peculiar to the head and neck of the male, has the entire 

 upper parts black, becoming ash on the breast and white 

 underneath, and has a white mark on the sides of the head 

 and in the wings. 



A little while afterward I saw on Johnson's Creek a beau- 

 tiful male in company with some half-dozen females. This 

 is one of the commonest of our fresh-water Ducks. They 

 are most common in April and October. During the former 

 month they are quite common, in small flocks, on Niagara 

 River. As a few remain in the State (New York) during 

 winter, they are sometimes found on this rapid, open 

 current during the coldest weather, probably being 

 excluded at such times from the more quiet water-courses 

 by the ice. It is a most expert and graceful diver, the 

 male holding his crest closely before plunging. It is, 

 indeed, a pleasing entertainment to watch a half-dozen of 

 these Ducks — they never go in large flocks — diving in some 

 open space among the great drives of ice-cakes along the 

 shore. The young have been taken on the lakes of the 

 Adirondack Mountains; but as '' it usually retires to high lati- 

 tudes to breed, as along the Yukon and elsewhere in boreal 

 America, its nidification is not generally known. A set of 14 

 eggs taken, the accompanying label states, from a feathery 

 nest in a dead poplar, some distance from the ground, fur- 

 nishes the following description: Shape, perfectly ellipsoidal; 

 size, slightly over 2 inches in length by 1^ in breadth; 

 color, a peculiar tint, just between rich creamy-white and 



