514 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 
a fine-flavored fowl for the table; but, when killed on the 
coast, its flesh is fishy and strong. It is a bird of very 
rapid flight, and is rather shy and difficult of approach. 
BUCEPHALA ALBEOLA. — Baird. 
The Buffle-head ; Dipper; Butter-ball. 
Anas albeola, Linneus. Syst. Nat., I. (1766) 199. Wils. Am. Orn., VIII 
(1814) 51. 
Fuligula ( Clangula) albeola, Bonaparte. Syn. (1828) 394. Nutt. Man., II. 445. 
Fuligula albeola, Audubon. Orn. Biog., IV. (1888) 217. /0., Birds Am., VI. 
(1848) 369. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Male. — Bill blue: head and neck anteriorly, dark-colored; the region in front 
of the eye and on the sides of the collar behind, rich-green, this color shading into 
purplish on the upper and under surfaces of the head; a broad patch on each side 
of the head from the posterior border of the eye, and meeting its fellow on the nape, 
the lower neck all round, under parts generally, wing coverts (except the lesser) 
and most of the secorfdaries, and the scapulars, white; the latter narrowly edged 
externally with black; rest of upper parts, except as described, black; passing 
gradually on the upper tail coverts into pale-gray; axillars and under wing coverts 
sooty-brown, more or less tipped with white; iris hazel. 
Female. — With the entire head, neck, and upper parts almost black; an elongated 
patch behind and below the eye (not reaching it); the outer webs of some second- 
aries, and the under parts, white; the jugulum, sides, and anal region, plumbeous- 
gray. * 
Length, fifteen inches; wing, six and sixty-five one-hundredths; tarsus, one and 
twenty-five one-hundredths; commissure, one and forty-four one-hundredths inch. 
This very common and well-known bird is abundant on 
our coast in the spring and autumn. It associates with 
most of the other Sea Ducks in our bays and creeks, but, in 
the interior, is seen only in pairs, or in, small flocks of 
three or four individuals. It is an expert diver; and one 
finds difficulty in shooting it when there are two or three 
individuals together, from its habit of diving at the flash of 
the gun. Ihave seen it at times, particularly after a severe 
storm, in small fresh-water ponds, in the interior; and, at 
such times, it is quite tame and unsuspicious, or possibly 
fatigued from its efforts in the storm. It feeds on small 
fish and crustaceans, which it is very expert at catching. 
When several birds are together, one always remains on the 
