DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS: BUFFLE-HEAD 
141 
scrambling and scratching going on inside as the duck climbed up the 
small opening, through which she wriggled out with some difficulty and 
flew away” (1925, p. 3). And Mr. H. K. Job, describing a nest that 
he climbed a tree to look into, writes, “The mother lay at the bottom, 
surrounded by a beautiful flock of black and white young. Some of 
them were on the old duck’s back; others were under her, apparently, 
and several of them were moving around in the limited chamber, 
picking at the chips on the bottom” (1902, pp. 197-199). 
Additional Literature—Bent, A. C., U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 130, 1-14, 1925. 
—Brewster, William, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard, LXVI, 142-163, 1924; 
Condor, XIII, 22-30, 1911.— Huxley, J. S., Auk, XXXIII, 142-161, 256-270, 1916 
(courtship).— Sawyer, E. J., Wilson Bull., XL, pp. 5-17, 1928 (courtship). 
BUFFLE-HEAD: Charitonetta albeola (Linnaeus) 
Description. — Male: Length 14.2-15.2 inches, wing 6.7-6.0, bill 1.1. Female: 
Length 12.2-13.5 inches, wing 5.9-6, bill .9. Bill short and pointed, head round, 
body small and plump. Adult male in breeding 'plumage: Head puffy , rich purple , 
green, and bluish , with broad white patch ex¬ 
tending around back of head; back black; 
rest of body mainly white; wings with ex¬ 
tensive white patch; axillars and wing linings 
mottled dusky and white; iris dark brown, 
bill slaty, nail black; legs and feet flesh 
color. Adxdt male in eclipseplumage: Similar 
to adult winter female but with more white 
on wing and sides of head. Adult female 
in winter and breeding plumage: Upperparts 
mainly dusky, head with white ear streak, 
fore neck with white collar, and wing with 
white patch; chest, sides and under tail 
coverts dusky, rest of underparts white; 
iris yellowish; legs and feet grayish, usu¬ 
ally tinged with pink Adidt female in 
eclipse plumage: Similar, but without white on neck and in scapulars. Young in 
juvenal plumage: Female like adult female but head and throat lighter and white head 
patch smaller. Male larger, with larger head patch. 
Range. —Breeds mainly in the interior of Canada; from the Upper ^ ukon, the 
Lower Mackenzie, Great Slave Lake, and southwestern coasts of Hudson Bay and 
James Bay south to Ontario, northern Montana and* British Columbia; winters 
mainly in the United States, across the continent from the Aleutians, British Colum¬ 
bia, northwestern Montana, the Great Lakes, and Maine, south to Florida, the Gulf 
coast, less commonly or rarely to central Mexico and Lower California. 
Comparisons. —At a distance the male Buffle-head may suggest the Hooded 
Merganser, but the Merganser’s white patch does not extend around the back of the 
head, its lower neck is black, and its bill slender. The female Buffle-head is distin¬ 
guished from the female Ruddy by the white patch on the side of her head. At a 
distance, in flight, she resembles a Golden-eye, but usually flies nearer the water with 
wings beating faster (Forbush). (See pp. 146, 143, 149.) 
State Records. —The Buffle-head should be a fairly common migrant in New 
Mexico, judging by its records to the north and south in Colorado and Mexico. 
From Handbook of Western Birds 
Fig. 19. Buffle-head 
