WILD FOWL. 
103 
THE BUFFEL-HE ADED DUCK. 
Fuligula Albeola .— Vulgo, Dipper , or Butter-Ball. 
“ The Buffel-headed, or rather, as it has originally been named, 
the Buffalo-headed Duck, from the disproportionate size of its 
head, is fourteen inches long, and twenty-three inches in extent; 
tfye bill is short, and of a light blue, or leaden color; the plu¬ 
mage of the head and half of the neck is thick, long, and velvety, 
projecting greatly over the lower part of the neck ; this plumage 
on the forehead and nape is rich glossy green, changing into a 
shining purple on the crown and sides of the neck ; from the 
eyes backward passes a broad band of pure white; iris of the 
eye dark; back, wings, and part of the scapulars, black; rest 
of the scapulars, lateral band along the wing, and whole breast, 
snowy white; belly, vent, and tail coverts, dusky-white; tail 
pointed, and of a hoary color. 
“ The female is considerably less than the male, and entirely 
destitute of the tumid plumage of the head; the head, neck, and 
upper parts of the body and wings are sooty black, darkest on 
the crown; side of the head marked with a small, oblong spot 
of white ; bill dusky; lower part of the neck ash, tipped with 
white; belly dull white; vent cinereous ; outer edges of six of 
the secondaries and their incumbent coverts white, except the 
tips of the latter, which are black ; legs and feet a livid, blue; 
tail hoary brown; length of the intestines three feet six inches ; 
stomach filled with small shell-fish. This is the Spirit Duck of 
Pennant, so called from its dexterity in diving, (. Arctic Zoology , 
No. 487,) likewise the Little Brown Duck of Catesby, ( Natural 
History of Carolina , pi. 98.) 
“ This species is said to come into Hudson’s Bay, about Se¬ 
vern River, in June, and make their nests in trees in the woods 
near ponds. The young males, during the first year, are almost 
exactly like the females in color.”— Wilson’s American Orni¬ 
thology. 
In the “ Birds of Long Island,” it is mentioned thus—farther 
