I lO 
British Diving Ducks 
a hole in a tree near the water. Mr. Allan Brooks kindly sends the following note concern- 
ing the birds which nest in the Cariboo district of British Columbia. He says : — 
" Almost every lake has one or more pairs of these charming little ducks. Unlike Barrow's Golden- 
Eye, the nests were always in trees close to, or but a short distance away from, water. These nests were 
invariably the deserted nesting holes of flickers, and in most cases had been used several years in succes- 
sion by the ducks. The holes were in aspen trees, from 5 to 20 feet from the ground, and the entrance 
was not more than inches in diameter. The number of eggs ranged from two to nine, eight 
being the average ; in colour they resemble old ivory, without any tinge of green. I have several times 
seen the eggs of this duck described as ' dusky green,' but these have evidently been the eggs of some 
species of Teal. The female Buffle-head is a very close sitter, never leaving the nest until the hole was 
sawed out, and in most cases I had to lift the bird and throw her up in the air, when she would make a 
bee-line for the nearest lake, where her mate would be slowly swimming up and down unconscious of the 
violation of his home. In many cases the eggs had fine cracks, evidently made by the compression of 
the bird's body when entering the small aperture." ^ 
Raine describes nests in holes in poplars in Manitoba, and A. C. Stark also found the 
entrance hole in an oak tree to be the work of a Woodpecker. In treeless districts, such as 
the Missouri c6teau in Saskatchewan, Raine says the nest has been found at the end of a 
gopher burrow by a lake side (quoted by Macoun, Ca^. Can. Birds, p. loi). Stark says 
that when flushed off the nest the duck dropped to within a foot of the ground from a 
Woodpecker's hole about 20 feet high, and flew into the thickest part of the wood, dodging 
between the trees with astonishing rapidity (quoted in Dresser's Birds of Europe^ vi. 
p. 592). Wood ducks and Mandarins when flushed off the nest also adopt similar tactics, 
and I have seen a female Teal do the same thing, preferring such a retreat to flying to the 
water. Mr. Lockhart describes a nest which he found in a rotten stump near the Yukon . 
that contained nine eggs, and another in the Black River in a poplar tree that contained ten 
eggs. Full clutches may be found during the last week in May and the first week in June. 
The nests are lined with down, and no material is carried into the hole to form a 
foundation. 
Both on fresh water and salt water the food of this species appears to be much the same 
as the Golden-Eye. The stomachs of those which I killed in Ontario were full of water- 
beetles and small freshwater snails. 
I am indebted to Mr. Allan Brooks, the British Columbian naturalist, for the following 
notes on the Buffel-headed Duck. He says : — 
" I have never seen a large flock of this species, twenty birds together is unusual, and when they 
rise they usually string out in twos and threes, never, to my knowledge, flying in a mass, or even in 
regular formation. 
" Males keep in the vicinity of the brooding female until the young are hatched, when they disappear. 
I have never seen nor shot one in eclipse plumage, though I have seen allied ducks (Harlequins) in great 
straggling flocks on the sea-coast, all apparently adult males unable to fly through the loss of the flight 
feathers. But I have never seen similar congregations of Buffle-heads, though the bird is so common. 
" The males are in full plumage again early in October. They pair late ; very often I have seen six 
or eight adult males together in April, though the courting actions may commence much earlier. When 
courting, the male makes short circling flights, low over the water, rising a little before alighting again 
with spread and downward bent wings. 
The only note I have heard is a low croak. When courting, these ducks seem oftener to go in 
^ See also Auk, vol. xx. No. 3, July 1903. 
