276 ANIMALS IN MENAGERIES. 



observed to have violent disputes for the females. At 

 this time they are more commonly seen in flocks ; but 

 during the preceding part of the winter they usually fly 

 in pairs. Their note, as Wilson observes, is a short 

 guak. It extends its migrations southward as far as 

 Carolina ; and is found on the ponds and fresh waters of 

 Georgia ; but it is not common there. Mr. Hutchins 

 says that it appears at Hudson's Bay, on the banks of 

 the Severn River, in June, and builds its nest in trees in 

 the woods, near ponds. According to Dr. Richardson, 

 it frequents the rivers and freshwater lakes throughout 

 the fur countries in great numbers. Their instantaneous 

 mode of diving on seeing the flash of a gun, has induced 

 the Indians to believe they are endowed with some su- 

 pernatural power ; hence their appellation of " Conjur- 

 ing," or Spirit Duck. Buffel-headed^ as Wilson ob- 

 serves, is only a corruption of 6i(^(//o-headed, in allusion 

 to the disproportionate size of its head ; a character, 

 however, which is also apparent, though in a less de- 

 gree, in the golden-eye, and all the garrots.* About the 

 middle of April, or early in May, this species leaves the 

 United States for their breeding places in the North. The 

 specimen described in the Northern Zoology, was killed 

 on the banks of the Saskatchewan in the month of 

 May. 



The plumage of the male may be thus described : — 

 The feathers of the head, and half of the neck, are 

 thick, long, and silky; richly glossed with green on the 

 forehead and nape, but which changes to a shining pur- 

 ple on the crown and sides of the neck: in some par- 

 ticular lights, these have a rich lilac or flame-coloured 

 gloss. Behind the eye commences a broad band of pure 

 white, which terminates with the occipital crest formed 

 by the lengthened silky feathers of the head : irides 

 dark; the back, wings, and part of the scapulars are 

 black ; the rest of the scapulars, lateral band along the 

 wing, and the whole of the under plumage, pure white ; 



* A large head, as we have frequently observed, is one of the most 

 typical distinctions of the aquatic type of all animals. 



