BUFFLE-HEAD 



277 



him. Eventually he finds the one best suited to him and the conjugal 

 pact is sealed" (Bent, 1925). 



The Buffle-head belongs to the small group of ducks that are habit- 

 ually tree nesters. The nests are usually placed in the deserted holes 

 of flickers or other woodpeckers in trees as near to the banks of ponds 

 and streams as can be secured. The cavity may be as high as 40 feet or 

 more above the ground or water. In certain areas where trees are scarce, 

 and only when forced by such a circumstance, it will lay its eggs in a 

 hole in a bank, after the manner of the Kingfisher. The entrance to the 

 nest may be a hole as small as 

 3i/2 inches in diameter, but 

 as the female is one of the 

 smallest of ducks it is easier 

 to understand how she can 

 pass through such a small ap- 

 erture than it is to visualize 

 the much larger Golden-eye 

 squeezing through openings 

 of much the same size. The 

 eggs vary in colour from ivory 

 yellow to pale olive buff and 

 the usual clutch is 10 or 12, 

 though the number will range 

 from 6 to 14. The average 

 size is 1.91 by 1.37 inches. 

 The manner in which the 

 young of the tree-nesting 

 ducks descend from their 

 nests, high above the ground, 

 is described in the "Life 

 Story" of the American 

 Golden-eye and the Wood 

 Duck. 



"The Buffle-head obtains 

 its food by diving, usually feeding in small companies so that one or 

 more remain on the surface to watch for approaching dangers while the 

 others are below; sometimes only one remains above, but it is only rarely 

 that all go below at once; should the sentinel become alarmed it com- 

 municates in some way with the others which come to the surface and 

 all swim or fly away to a safe distance" (Bent, 1925). Practically four- 

 fifths of the food of this species is of the animal kingdom. An analysis 

 of the stomachs of 282 of these birds collected in 24 States, Alaska and 

 5 Canadian Provinces, and taken in every month of the year except June 

 and September, gave the following approximate percentages: insects, 

 41; crustaceans, 17; molluscs, 16; fishes, 4; miscellaneous animal food, 

 1; total animal food, 79 per cent. Pondweeds, 7; miscellaneous plant 

 food, 14; total vegetable food, 21 per cent. The relative amounts of ani- 



