^30 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — LAMELLIROSTRES - ANSERES. 



of St. Lawrence, mountains of Oregon, and in the Rocky Mts. from Colorado, N. to high lati- 

 tudes. Well distinguished from the foregoing in the full plumage of the $, but the 9 and 

 young $ are not easily discriminated. The 9 may usually be recognized by division of white 

 area on wing, or tendency thereto; some blackish spots on the ends of the greater coverts; 

 darker and more snuffy brown of the head, running farther down the neck, especially in front, 

 and thus making the white collar narrower; darker toned and more extensive gray of fore 

 breast; puffier head, with more tendency to an occipital crest; different shape of bill, as above 

 indicated, and its more extensive particoloration ; and somewhat greater size, on the whole. 

 The nest and eggs are indistinguishable. This bird belongs to North America, and is rare 

 or only casual in Europe, even in Iceland, whence its specific name is derived. This case is 

 curiously parallel with that of Fuligula collaris, above noted. The greatest ornithologist of 

 the last century, Brisson, described it nnmistakably from a specimen in the Reaumur Cab- 

 inet, though he thought it was the common Golden-eye; for he says, Orn. vi, p. 418, of the 

 white spot before the eye, " versiis synciput in acumen producta," i. e., runs up in a point 

 on the forehead, and his pi. 37, fig. 2, shows this very plainly, as well as the black bar divid- 

 ing the white alar area. The best figure is Swaiuson's plate 70, in the Fn. Bor.-Am. ii, 1831, 

 p. 456, when and where Dr. Richardson dedicated the handsome bird to Sir John Barrow, of 

 Arctic fame. 



(Subgenus Charitonetta.) 



C (C.) albe'ola. (Lat. alheola or albula, dim. of albus, white. Figs. 651, 652.) Little 

 Black and White ^ or Little Brov\^n 9 Duck. Buffalo-headed Duck. Buf- 

 FLE-HEAD. Buffel-head. Butter Duck. Butter-ball. Butter-box. Butter- 

 BACK. Wool-head. Spirit Duck. Conjuring Duck. Marionette. Dipper. Bill 



___^ ^ - _ _ with nostrils rather 



behind than before its 

 middle line. Adult (J: 

 Head particularly 

 puffy with much 

 lengthened feathers of 

 lateral and hind parts, 

 splendidly various 

 with purple-violet and 

 green iridescence ; a 

 large snowy patch on 

 each side behind eye, 

 blending on nape with 

 its fellow. Bill dull 

 bluish, with dusky 

 nail and base. Eyes 

 brown. Feet 

 fl e s h - c o 1 o r, 

 blackish claw^s. 

 parts at 



Fio. G51. — Buffle-head. 



pale 

 with 

 Up- 



(Prom Lewis.) . . ■, 



per parts at large 

 black, finding to grayish-white posteriorly. Lower neck all around, under parts at large, 

 scapulars in part, nearly all wing-coverts, and most secondaries, white. Outer scapulars white, 

 edged with black; inner secondaries velvet-black; sides and sometimes across lower belly 

 shaded with dusky ; lining of wings mixed dusky and white. Adult 9 : Much smaller than ^; 

 head scarcely puffy, but a thin compressed nuchal elongation of feathers, dusky gray, with 

 trace at least of the white space of ^, and commonly a white touch under eye. Bill dusky; 



