(4218) 
BUFFEL-HEADED DUCK. 
FULIGULA ALBEOLA, Bonap. 
PLATE CCCXXV. Mate ann FEMALE. 
THERE are no portions of the Union on the waters of which this 
beautiful miniature of the Golden-eye Duck is not to be found, either 
during the autumnal months or in winter; and, therefore, to point out 
any particular district as more or less favoured by its transient visits 
would be useless. ‘The miller’s dam is ornamented by its presence ; 
the secluded creeks of the Middle States are equally favoured by it as 
the stagnant bayous and lakesof Lower Louisiana ; in the Carolinas and 
on the Ohio, it is not less frequent ; it being known in these different 
districts by the names of Spirit Duck, Butter-box, Marrionette, Dip- 
per, and Die-dipper. It generally returns from the far north, where 
it is said to breed, about the beginning of September, and many reach 
the neighbourhood of New Orleans by the middle of October, at which 
period I have also observed them in the Floridas. Their departure 
from these different portions of our country varies from the beginning 
of March to the end of May. On the 11th of that month in 1833, I 
shot some of them near Eastport in Maine. None of them have, I 
believe, been found breeding within the limits of the Union. During 
the period of their movements towards the north, I found them ex- 
ceedingly abundant on the waters of the Bay of Fundy, the males in 
flocks, and in full dress, preceding the females about a fortnight, as is 
the case with many other birds. 
The Marrionette—and I think the name a pretty one—is a very 
hardy bird, for it remains at times during extremely cold weather on 
the Ohio, when it is thickly covered with floating ice, among which it 
is seen diving almost constantly in search of food. When the river is 
frozen over, they seek the head waters of the rapid streams, in the tur- 
bulent eddies of which they find abundance of food. Possessed of a 
feeling of security arising from the rapidity with which they can dive, 
they often allow you to go quite near them, though they will then 
watch every motion, and at the snap of your gun, or on its being dis- 
charged, disappear with the swiftness of thought, and perhaps as quick- 
