BUFFEL-HEADED DUCK. 443 



obtained a BufFel-headed Duck, which was intended for the 

 Margate Museum : a statement true in a way, for he had 

 bought it of the late E. Dunn, of Stromness, whose son 

 informed Mr. J. H. Gurney, juu., that the specimen was 

 not procured in Britain, or even in Europe ! In the collec- 

 tion of the Rev. W. Hore, of Barnstaple, is a specimen said 

 to have been shot near Devonport in 1841, but Mr, Gatcombe 

 informs the Editor that it came from the late Dr. Tripe of 

 Devonport, whose collection contained several American 

 birds, and a mistake is therefore not impossible. In the 

 ' British ' collection in the Natural History Museum, is a 

 specimen cited by J. E. Gray as " Norfolk : from Mr. 

 Hubbard's collection," without further details. Mr. Robert 

 Gray says, in his 'Birds of the West of Scotland' (p. 396), 

 " Mr. Angus showed me a beautiful male which was shot on 

 the Loch of Loriston, Aberdeenshire, in January 1865 ; and 

 Mr. Edward of Banff showed me a specimen — also a male 

 —shot many years ago in the Loch of Strathbeg, and placed 

 in the Banff Museum by the late Mr. Smith, minister of 

 Monquhitter." Lastly, a mature male, shot in the winter of 

 1864-65 near Bridhngton, Yorkshire (Zool. p. 9659), is 

 now in the collection of Mr. J. Whitaker of Raiuworth. 



There do not appear to be any authentic records of the 

 occurrence of the Buffel-headed Duck on the coasts of the 

 Continent. In Greenland, according to Reinhardt, a female 

 example was obtained at Godthaab about 1830. This species 

 has long been well known to the naturalists of North 

 America. Audubon says that " during autumn and winter 

 it is to be seen in almost every part of the Union, frequent- 

 ing the sea-shore, rivers, and lakes. It feeds on shell-fish, 

 shrimps, and marine plants, particularly the species of laver 

 named Ulva lactuca, and the bird being generally very fat, 

 one of its common names is * Butterbox ' [or ' Butter-ball 'J ; 

 it is also called ' Spirit Duck,' and ' Conjuror,' from the 

 facility with which it escapes by diving suddenly at the flash 

 of a gun, or the twang of a bowstring. The Buffel-headed 

 Duck is a very hardy bird, for it remains during extremely 

 cold weather on the Ohio, when the river is thickly covered 



