ANAS ALBEOLA. BUFFEL-HEADED DUCK, OR BUTTER-BALL. 



HIS little duck is more commonly known 

 as the butter-box, or butter-ball, from the 

 circumstance of its fat, plump little body. 

 It is one of the very first ducks that comes 

 from the North. Its flesh is rather fishy 

 at times ; but we have shot them on the 

 Chesapeake and Delaware of very good 

 flavor. It breeds in the North, flies with 

 great velocity, and dives with considerable 

 facility ; and, when on the wing, utters a 

 quick, guttural note quack ! quack ! quack ! 



DESCRIPTION. 



" The buffel-headed duck, or rather, as it has originally been, 

 the buffalo-headed duck, from the disproportionate size of its head, 

 is fourteen inches long and twenty-three inches in extent ; the bill 

 is short, and of a light blue or leaden color ; the plumage of the 



head and half of the neck is thick, long, and velvety, projecting 

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