CHAPTER XXIX. 



BUFFLE-HEADED DUCK (fULIGULA ALVEOLA BONEP). 



Local name, "Butter-ball." 



Adult male : Bill much shorter than the headj 

 Bomparatively narrow, deeper than broad at the 

 base, gradually depressed toward the end, which 

 is rounded. 



Head rather large, compressed. Eyes of mode- 

 rate size. Neck short and thick. Body com- 

 pact, depressed. Feet very short, placed far 

 back ; tarsus very short, compressed. 



Plumage dense, soft, and blended. Feathers on 

 the fore part of the head very small and round- 

 ed ; on the upper and hind parts linear and 

 elongated, as they also are on the lateral and 

 hind parts of the upper neck, so that, when 

 raised, they give the head an extremely tumid 

 appearance, which is the more marked that the 

 feathers of the neck immediately beneath are 

 short. Wings very small, decurved, pointed. 

 Tail short, graduated, of sixteen feathers. 



279 



