WILD FOWL 
brownish -black, the median secondaries and their greater -coverts white; 
axillaries parti -coloured, the shorter plumes being white and the longer 
smoky -brown. Iris dark brown; bill dusky, inclining to grey at the tip 
and along the commissure; legs and toes pale pinkish -lilac, the webs and 
joints darker. Total length 13 inches; bill 1 *1 inch; wing 6*0 inches; tail 
2 3 inches; tarsus 1 2 inch. 
General distribution . — The buffel -headed duck inhabits North America, 
breeding as far north as Alaska, and as far south as Montana and Ontario, 
about 45° N. latitude. In winter it ranges southwards to Lower California 
and Mexico on the west, and to Florida and the West Indies on the east, 
and occasionally to the Bermudas. On the Asiatic side it has been obtained 
as a straggler in the Commander Islands and Hawaii, while to the east 
it has been met with in Greenland, Newfoundland, and Nova Scotia, but 
has not been obtained in North-Western Europe. 
Distribution in the British ’Isles . — To the British Isles it is a very rare 
wanderer, and only two or three authentic instances of its occurrence are 
on record. One was killed at Yarmouth in the v/inter of 1830, a second in 
Yorkshire in the winter of 1864-5, and possibly a third in Aberdeenshire 
in January, 1865. 
Nest and eggs . — Like the other species of the genus the buffel -headed 
duck nests in holes in trees, laying its eggs on the rotten wood and covering 
them with a plentiful supply of down. The eggs, laid between the end of 
May and July, and from eight to ten in number, are greenish -white, and 
measure about 2* 0 by 1*5 inches. 
This duck is a most expert diver, and by this means obtains mol- 
luscs and crustaceans on the coast; but it also feeds on worms, snails 
and aquatic plants. On account of its extreme fatness this species is com- 
monly known in North America as “ Butter -ball,” its thick coating of 
adipose enabling it to withstand great cold, and to remain in waters covered 
with’floating ice. 
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