324 DUCK GROUP 



ducks lay a large supply of egg-s. As a rule, from ten to thirteen is 

 the usual number of eggs in a clutch, but there may be more, even under 

 normal conditions ; and it would seem probable that when the eggs are 

 gradually removed, as is done by the Lapps and Finns, there is an 

 abnormal increase in the number laid. In cabinets the eggs, which 

 usually measure slightly less than 2^ inches in length, are olive or dull 

 green, but when freshly laid their colour is bluish or bright pea-green. 



One reputed occurrence of Barrow's golden-eye {Clattgn/a islamUta), 

 of Iceland, Greenland, and Arctic America, in Great Britain is not 

 supported by sufficient or satisfactory evidence. On the other hand, 

 the American bufflc-hcaded duck i^Claiigiila albcola), whose breeding- 

 range extends from Labrador to Alaska, is known to have occurred at 

 least five times in the British Islands up to the close of the last centur\' ; 

 the earliest of these occurrences being in 1830 and the latest thirty-five 

 years subsequently. Three out of the five are English, and the re- 

 maining two Scottish. The varying reflections of steely blue, purplish, 

 and bronze on different parts of the head, coupled with the larger 

 white face-patch, serve to distinguish the drake from the golden-eye ; 

 while the duck may be recognised by the greyish-brown head and neck, 

 and the white ear-coverts and wing-bar. The buffle-head is sometimes 

 referred to a genus by itself, under the name Cliaritonetta albeola ; but 

 one of the ornithologists who adopted this title subsequently reverted 

 to the older usage. 



T * -1 J n 1 The male of that thoroughlv Arctic species, the long- 

 Long-tailed Duck .,,,,. ,• , ,^^,' , ., •,• 



(Harelda glaeialis). ^^'^^^ ^"^^•^'' '' ^ ^l''^ ^^■'''*'^' ^^'""°^ ^>' ^">' Possibility 

 be confounded with an}' other duck, and there can 



be no question that the species is thoroughly entitled to represent a 

 genus by itself. The chief characteristics are derived from the plumage, 

 in which there is no wing-bar, and the colour is mainly black and 

 white in the drakes for the greater part of the year, while the tail- 

 feathers and the scapulars are elongated in that sex. The number of 

 tail-feathers is fourteen. 



In breeding-plumage the sides of the face of the drake are brownish 

 buff, and the rest of the head and neck white with the exception of a 

 dark brown oval patch on each side of the latter ; the middle of the 

 back and the elongated pair of tail-feathers are black ; the long scapulars, 

 inner secondaries, outer tail-feathers, and the whole of the under-parts 

 are white: while the wing-coverts are brownish black. In the non- 

 breeding dress, which appears to be worn only for a short .season in 

 summer, the region round the eye is buff and white, and the rest of the 



