S£A DUCKS. 223 



our sea ducks. It takes its common name from the fact that its 

 wings when in flight produce a loud whistling noise which can be 

 heard at a considerable distance. 



In the interior and perhaps at some points on the coast, the 

 Golden-eyes decoy readily, but this is not the case on our southern 

 New England shore, where they rarely pay the slightest attention 

 to the stools. This species is said to breed in hollow trees like 

 the Wood Duck, the mother transporting her young to the water 

 in her bill. 



The male Whistler has the head and upper neck dark glossy 

 green, a roundish spot of white just in front of the eye, not touch- 

 ing the bill ; lower neck, under parts, sides, scapulars, wing coverts 

 and secondaries white, other upper parts black or blackish. The 

 female has the head brown, breast and sides grey. The head in 

 the male is quite puffy, in the female less so. The bill is high at 

 the base, shorter than the head, and in color is black, paler at the 

 tip. Length about eighteen inches. 



Bucephala islandica.—^zxcA. Rocky Mountain Garrot. Barrow's Golden-eye. 

 A rather doubtful species which closely resembles the forego- 

 ing, but has the loral spot triangular or crescentic touching the bill 

 for the whole length of one of its sides, white on the wing, divided 

 by a black bar. Somewhat larger than the last. This bird is 

 everywhere rare, yet it has been taken on the Atlantic coast, in the 

 Rocky Mountains, and on the Pacific. If a good species it is more 

 boreal in its habitat than the common Golden-eye. It occurs with 

 us only in winter. 



Bucephala a^6eala.—Ba.iTd. Buffle-head. Dipper. Butter-ball. Spirit Duck. 

 Devil Diver. Salt-water Teal. 



Every one is familiar with the little Buffle-head, for he is 

 common not only along the coast, but on all ponds and streams 

 throughout the country, from ocean to ocean. The male is cer- 

 tainly one of the most beautiful of our ducks. His head is ex- 

 tremely puffy, and shows on its back the most brilliant iridescence 

 of purple, green and gold. Colors like those of the Golden-eye, 

 but without the loral patch of white, and with an auricular patch 

 of that color which meets its fellow behind. The female has the 



