442 BUFFEL-HEADED DUCK. 



off Kamschatka, being the first recorded instance from the Asiatic 

 side of Bering Sea. Its migrations extend to California — -where it 

 is very abundant between October and April — Texas, Mexico, the 

 West Indies, and occasionally to the Bermudas. 



So far as is at present known, the nest is, like that of the previous 

 species, placed in the hollow of a tree, and lined with down. One 

 found by Mr. Lockhart on the Yukon River was in a poplar, about 

 twenty feet from the ground, and on July yth contained lo eggs ; 

 their colour was of an ivory-white with a faint tinge of green : 

 measurements 2 by i"5 in. Mr. A. C. Stark describes a nest from 

 which he shot the female on May 27th 1882, in West Minnesota, as 

 being in a hole in an oak-tree, which was only a few inches deep 

 and partly iilled with decayed wood, whereon lay 8 eggs nearly 

 buried in down. The stomach of this bird was crammed with small 

 red worms, but snails, leeches, grasses and aquatic plants are also 

 eaten, while on the sea-coast shrimps and molluscs are obtained by 

 diving. From its fatness this species is generally known in the 

 United States by the name of ' Butter-ball ' ; and it is also called 

 the ' Spirit-Duck,' owing to the alacrity with which it disappears 

 beneath the water. Its note is a mere croak, like that of the 

 Golden-eye, but more feeble. It is very tolerant of cold, and has 

 been seen on the Ohio when that river was thickly covered with 

 floating ice. 



The adult male has the forehead metallic-green, a dash of the 

 same colour on the back of the neck, while the crown and throat 

 are iridescent purple ; from behind the eye to the nape extends a 

 large triangular white patch which terminates in a sort of crest ; 

 below the purplish-green neck comes a narrow white collar which 

 meets the under parts of the same colour ; back, rump and inner 

 secondaries, black ; outer secondaries, speculum and coverts chiefly 

 white, variegated with black ; tail slate-grey ; bill bluish ; irides 

 dark brown ; legs and feet yellowish-pink. Length 15 in.; wing 

 675 in. The female is smaller; her head and neck are ash-brown, 

 with a white patch behind the eye ; the upper parts are chiefly 

 greyish-brown ; the white on the wing is less defined, and the under 

 parts are tinged with brownish-grey on the sides. The young at 

 first resemble the female. 



