232 
ANAS ALBEOLA. 
The female hits nothing- of all this. The intestine® 
mea-sure five feet in length, and are large and thick. 
I have e.xamined many individuals of this .species, 
both se.x'cs mid in various stage.s of colour, and c®** 
therefore affirm, with certainty, that the foregoin? 
descriptions are correct. Europeans have differed greatlf 
111 their accounts of this, from finding males in the saine 
garb as the females, and other full ])luiuaged nial«® 
destitute of the spot of white on the cheek ; biff all thes'' 
individuals bear such evident marks of belonging to 
peculiar- species, that no Judicious naturali.st, withal* 
these varieties before him, can long hesitate to pron unc* 
them the same. 
280 . ANAS ALBF.OLAf LlNNiEUS AND WiLSON. 
BUFFEL-HEADED DUCK. 
\MLSON, PLATE LXVII, FIG. 11, AIALE. FIG. Ill, FEMALE. 
This pretty little species, tisiially known by the nain*^ 
of the butter-box-, or butter-ball, is common to the 
shores, rivers, and lakes of the United States, in ever.V 
quarter of the country, during aiituinn and winter- 
About tlie middle of April, or early in May, they retire 
to the north to breed. They are dexterous divers, taut* 
fly with extraoi-diiiary velocity. So early as the latter 
part of Febrnary the males are observed to have violeid 
disputes for the females; at this time they are more 
commonly seen in Hocks, but, during the iirecediim- par‘ 
of winter, they usually fly in pairs. Their note is * 
idiort qtiah. They feed much on shell fish, shrimps, fsc- 
They are sometimes exceedingly fat, though their lies** 
IS inferior to many others for the table. The nialr 
exceeds the female in size, and greatly in beauty 
plumage. 
The hiiffel-headed duck, or rather, a.s it has orin-iiiallf 
been, the bnll.ilo-headed duck, from the disproportionate 
size of its head, is fourteen inche.s long, and twenty' 
three inches in extent; the bill is short, "and of a Hg*'* 
