HARELDA GLACIALIS : LONG-TAILED DUCK. 3I9 



A common winter resident, arriving in October, and 

 remaining into April. "The Buffle-head is not often 

 seen in the United States, except from fall to spring ; as 

 it usually retires to high latitudes to breed, as along the 

 Yukon and elsewhere in boreal America, its nidiiication 

 is consequently not generally known. A set of fourteen 

 eggs taken, the accompanying label states, from a 

 feathery nest in a dead poplar, some distance from the 

 ground, furnishes the following description : Shape, 

 perfectly ellipsoidal; size, slightly over 2.00 inches in 

 length by 1.50 in breadth; color, a peculiar tint, just 

 between rich creamy-white and grayish-olive, unvaried 

 by markings. Other eggs are described as being about 

 1.67 long by 1.25 broad, and buff-colored" (Coues, Birds 

 Northwest, 1874, p. 578). 



LONG-TAILED DUCK. 



Harelda GLACIALIS (Z.) Leach. 



Chars. Tail of fourteen narrow pointed feathers, in the male in 

 summer the central ones very slender and much elongated, 

 nearly or quite equalling the wing ; nail of bill occupying the 

 whole tip ; seasonal changes remarkable. Male in summer 

 with the back and the long, narrowly lanceolate scapulars varied 

 with reddish-brown, wanting in winter, when this color is ex- 

 changed for pearly-gray or white ; general color blackish or 

 very dark brown, below from the breast abruptly white ; no 

 white on the wing ; sides of head plumbeous-gray ; in winter, 

 the head, neck and body anteriorly, white, but the gray cheek- 

 patch persistent, and a large dark patch below this ; bill at all 

 seasons black, broadly orange-barred. Female without length- 

 ened scapulars or tail-feathers, the bill dusky greenish, and 

 otherwise different, but recognized by presence of head and 



