232 
ANAS ALBEOLA. 
The female has nothing* of all this. The intestines 
measure five feet in length, and are large and thick. 
I have examined many individuals of this species, of 
both sexes and in various stages of colour, and can 
therefore affirm, with certainty, that the foregoing 
descriptions are correct. Europeans have differed greatly 
in their accounts of this, from finding males in the same 
garb as the females, and other full plumaged males 
destitute of the spot of white on the cheek ; but all these 
individuals bear such evident marks of belonging to one 
peculiar species, that no judicious naturalist, with all 
these varieties before him, can long hesitate to pronounce 
them the same. 
280 . ANAS ALBEOLA , LINNAEUS AND WILSON. 
BUFFEL-HEADED DUCK. 
WILSON, PLATE LXVII. FIG. II. MALE FIG. III. FEMALE. 
This pretty little species, usually known by the name 
of the butter-box, or butter-ball, is common to the sea 
shores, rivers, and lakes of the United States, in every 
quarter of the country, during autumn and winter. 
About the middle of April, or early in May, they retire 
to the north to breed. They are dexterous divers, and 
fly with extraordinary velocity. So early as the latter 
part of February the males are observed to have violent 
disputes for the females ; at this time they are more 
commonly seen in flocks, but, during the preceding part 
of winter, they usually fly in pairs. Their note is a 
short quak. They feed much on shell fish, shrimps, &c. 
They are sometimes exceedingly fat, though their flesh 
is inferior to many others for the table. The male 
exceeds the female in size, and greatly in beauty of 
plumage. 
The buffel-headed duck, or rather, as it has originally 
been, the buffalo-headed duck, from the disproportionate 
size of its head, is fourteen inches long, and twenty- 
three inches in extent; the bill is short, and of a light 
