In North- West Canada. 63 



~ 4 What if a rattle snake should get hold of me ?" Well, I had 

 to confess myself that I did not fancy putting my arm into the 

 dark burrow, not knowing what the occupant might be, and 

 we stood in silence, wondering what course to take. The duck 

 had flown from this bank, and although the buffle-headed 

 duck is supposed to nest in hollow trees, still I supposed 

 where there are no trees, the buffle-head, like other birds, 

 has to accommodate itself to the country. We got down on our 

 knees and looked into several burrows. In one I thought 

 I saw something, and when my eyes got used to the dark- 

 ness of the burrow, I saw it was a nest of down, so I put my 

 arm in, but could not reach the nest, so we enlarged the 

 opening, and then succeeded in reaching the nest. It contained 

 twelve eggs, which were partly incubated, but we succeeded in 

 blowing them, and making good specimens of the set. The 

 eggs were laid on a bed of down, three feet from the entrance 

 of the burrow. The eggs are now on a table before me. Two 

 of the largest measure 1.98x1.41 and 1.97x1.40; two of the 

 smallest measure 1.95x1.57 and 1.87x1.40. I expected the eggs 

 would be similar in colour to those of the common or Barrow's 

 golden-eye ducks, ashy green, but they are entirely different. 

 They mostly resemble some varieties of the European 

 teal in colour, but of course are larger. They are a warm 

 dull buff colour, with a greyish tinge. Another clutch of 

 ten eggs, taken from a hole in a decayed tree at Oak Lake^ 

 Manitoba, on May 25th, 1890, are greyish buff, and average 

 2.00x1.45. This nest was found by the bird flying from the 

 hole, which was situated about fifteen feet from the ground, 

 in a decayed limb. The hole was lined with feathers and 

 clown. 



The buffle-headed duck is not a rare bird in Manitoba and 

 Assiniboia, and the male birds, with their puffy heads, are fre- 

 quently seen swimming about the lakes and sloughs. In some 

 parts of Manitoba, where the lakes are surrounded with pine, 

 tamarac, and scrub oaks, both the buffle-head, wood duck, and 

 hooded merganser are regular summer visitors, and are known 

 to return year after year to the same tree to lay their eggs. 



