Old Squaw 59 
it in Middle Park, April 14th, 1877, and later a pair in July—which 
looks as if it might occasionally breed in the mountains, but I have 
no further confirmation of this. 
Habits.—In no important respect differing from the 
Golden-eye in its habits, the Buffle-head is often known 
as the “ Butter-ball ” or “ Hell-diver.” It is noted for its 
quick diving to escape a shot, rivalling even the Grebes 
in this respect. Its flesh is fishy and poor-eating. 
The nest is placed in holes or in hollow trees, and lined 
with feathers and down; the eggs, 9 to 10 or even 14, are 
buffy-drab, and measure about 2°0 x 1:5. 
Genus HARELDA. 
Bill short, high at the base, the rounded end occupied by a broad 
nail; head not crested, nostrils in the basal half of the bill; feathers 
ending in a straight line across the forehead ; tail of fourteen feathers, 
much elongated in the male by the prolongation of the central pair 
of feathers; scapulars also elongated. 
One species only. 
Old Squaw. Harelda hyemalis. 
A.O.U. Checklist no 154—Colorado Records—Deane 95, p. 292; 
Cooke 97, pp. 56, 195; 06, p. 52; Henderson 03, p. 234; 09, p. 226; 
H. G. Smith 08, p. 184; Felger 09, p. 282. 
Description.—_Male in winter—Head, neck, front part of the back, 
abdomen, sides, under tail-coverts and lateral tail-feathers white ; 
scapulars which are elongated and pointed, and a square patch op 
the side of the face from the eye to the ear-coverts, grey ; another 
behind this and the whole of the breast, dark brown ; rest of the upper- 
parts and wings black or brownish-black; central tail-feathers much 
elongated ; iris yellow, bill black with a transverse band of pink (in 
dried skins orange), legs yellow (in dried skins). Length about 21; 
wing 8-5; tail 6-0; culmen 1-1; tarsus 1-3. 
In summer the male is chiefly sooty with ashy-grey face, white eyelids 
and belly, and streaks of chestnut on the back and scapulars. 
The female in winter is dark brown above with the scapulars, which 
are not elongated, more or less margined with white; head and neck 
white, with a dark patch on the crown and side of the neck ; a little 
mottling also on, the fore-breast ; below pure white; tail pointed, but 
feathers not elongated ; wing 8-5. 
