338 BUCEPHALA ALBEOLA 



British Isles, but only three records seem to be authentic, as follows: one near Yarmouth, Norfolk, 

 about 1830; one at Bridlington, Yorkshire, winter 1864-65; one at Tresco, Scilly Islands, January 

 17, 1920 (Millais, 1913; Witherby et al., 1919-22). The occasional captures in the Hawaiian Islands 

 have already been noticed. 



Migration 

 The migration dates for the Buffle-head are very much like those for the Common Golden-eye, and do 

 not require special comment. Like most northern breeding ducks they do not move very early in 

 spring. The bulk passes over the inland States, particularly those of the Mississippi basin, during 

 March. Southern Canada is traversed in April, and the northern nesting areas are reached in May. 

 In autumn they linger until driven out by frost. Few appear on the wintering grounds before late 

 October, and the majority do not arrive until well into November. 



Just as with the Golden-eye, the early migration of the young birds is a marked feature. I think 

 from my own experience that there is even more difference in the time that the sexes move than with 

 that species. At Wenham, Massachusetts, the small lots of immature or single birds begin to appear 

 between the 19th and 25th of October (earliest October 9), but they are most common in November. 

 Adult males are always remarkably rare and pass mostly in December, rarely stopping in the ponds. 

 Mr. F. S. Hersey, who watched the Boston markets carefully in 1909, 1911 and 1912, noticed no old 

 males until December. The earliest date of their appearance was December 4 and the latest Decem- 

 ber 22. 



In southeastern Alaska, Bailey (MS.) saw the first autumn migrants at Young's Bay on October 7, 

 but they were not abundant till October 24. 



The distribution of the sexes in winter is less plain. There is often an excess of males in New Eng- 

 land waters in late winter (four or five to one), but then I think I have seen a great many males as 

 far south as Cape Hatteras. Of course it is difficult to estimate the relative abundance of the sexes, 

 for the males are so showy and the females and young so easily overlooked, that one gets a false 

 impression. 



Banding Experiments 

 A female banded by Mr. Burtch of Branchport, New York, on April 6, 1922, was recaptured on 

 April 17 near Collingwood, Ontario, on Georgian Bay (U.S. Biological Survey). Its first capture 

 was by a "set line" and its second by a herring net, in whose meshes it became entangled and 

 drowned. 



GENERAL HABITS 



This, the smallest of the sea ducks, occupies a niche more or less by itself, but is 

 nevertheless plainly related to both the Golden-eyes not only by its general confor- 

 mation, plumage and habits, but by the appearance of its downy young. 



Generally speaking this is a fresh-water duck during the nesting season and a 

 coastal one throughout the winter, but in suitable large lakes or rivers, or in fact on 

 any open water, it sometimes winters. Almost as light in the air as a Teal and as 

 quick as its larger cousins at getting under water, perhaps even quicker, this busy, 

 restless little bird is always flying about, more or less oblivious to what other crea- 

 tures, man included, are doing. It, too, is the harbinger of winter, appearing in our 

 New England ponds along with the Golden-eye and Hooded Mergansers and other 

 "hard-weather" fowl. 



