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, Linnaeus. Syst. Nat., I. (1766) 199. Wils. Am. Orn., VIII 

 (1814) 51. 



Fuligula ( Clangula) albeola, Bonaparte. Syn. (1828) 394. Nutt. Man., II. 445. 

 Ftdigula albeola, Audubon. Orn. Biog., IV. (1838) 217. Ib., Birds Am., VI. 



(1843) 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 secondaries, 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. I have 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 



