Bill greyish-black, iris dark brown; feet flesh-coloured, claws dusky. Head and neck greyish-white; a small black patch about an inch behind the eye on each side. Upper parts dull bluish-grey, many of the wing-coverts greyish brown, edged with paler; quills as in the adult; rump and tail white, the latter with a broad band of black at the end, the tips narrowly edged with whitish.
Length to end of tail 13 3/8, to end of wings 15 5/8, to end of claws 13; extent of wings 32 1/2 inches. Weight 6 oz.
The white spots on the tips of the wings vary greatly in size, and are frequently obliterated when the feathers become worn.
Palate with five series of small distant papillæ. Tongue 1 inch 1 1/2 twelfths long, slender, tapering to a slit point, emarginate and papillate at the base, horny towards the end. Aperture of posterior nares linear, 9 twelfths long. Heart 1 inch long, 9 twelfths broad. Right lobe of liver 1 inch 11 twelfths long, the other lobe 1 inch 7 twelfths.
The œsophagus is 6 1/2 inches long, very wide with rather thin parietes, its average diameter when dilated 10 twelfths, within the thorax enlarged to 1 inch 2 twelfths. The transverse muscular fibres are distinct, the internal longitudinal less so; the mucous coat longitudinally plicate. The proventriculus is 1/2 inch long, with very numerous small glandules. The stomach is a small oblong gizzard, 10 twelfths long, 8 twelfths broad; its lateral muscles rather large, as are its tendons. The inner coat or epithelium is of moderate thickness, dense, with nine longitudinal broad rugæ, and of a brownish-red colour. The intestine is 24 1/2 inches long, its diameter 2 twelfths. The rectum is 1 1/2 inch long. The cœca are 2 twelfths long, 1 twelfth in diameter, cylindrical and obtuse.
The intestine of another individual, a male, is 20 1/2 inches long, 3 twelfths in diameter.
The trachea is 3 inches 10 twelfths long, its diameter at the top 3 twelfths, at the lower part 2 1/4 twelfths, the rings very feeble, unossified, about 130 in number. The sterno-tracheal muscles are very slender, as are the contractors; and there is a pair of inferior laryngeals. The bronchi are of moderate length, with about 18 half rings.
BUFFEL-HEADED DUCK.
Fuligula albeola, Bonap.
PLATE CCCXXV. Male and Female.
There are no portions of the Union on the waters of which this beautiful miniature of the Golden-eye Duck is not to be found, either during the autumnal months or in winter; and, therefore, to point out any particular district as more or less favoured by its transient visits would be useless. The miller’s dam is ornamented by its presence; the secluded creeks of the Middle States are equally favoured by it as the stagnant bayous and lakes of Lower Louisiana; in the Carolinas and on the Ohio, it is not less frequent; it being known in these different districts by the names of Spirit Duck, Butter-box, Marrionette, Dipper, and Die-dipper. It generally returns from the far north, where it is said to breed, about the beginning of September, and many reach the neighbourhood of New Orleans by the middle of October, at which period I have also observed them in the Floridas. Their departure from these different portions of our country varies from the beginning of March to the end of May. On the 11th of that month in 1833, I shot some of them near Eastport in Maine. None of them have, I believe, been found breeding within the limits of the Union. During the period of their movements towards the north, I found them exceedingly abundant on the waters of the Bay of Fundy, the males in flocks, and in full dress, preceding the females about a fortnight, as is the case with many other birds.