Their flight is as rapid as that of our Hooded Merganser, for they pass through the air by regularly repeated beats of their wings, with surprising speed; and yet this is the best time for the experienced sportsman to shoot them, as they usually fly low. Their note is a mere croak, much resembling that of the Golden-eye, but feebler. At the approach of spring, the males often swell their throats and expand the feathers of the head, whilst they utter these sounds, and whilst moving with great pomposity over the waters. Often too, they charge against each other, as if about to engage in combat, but I have never seen them actually fighting. When these birds return to us from the north, the number of the young so very much exceeds that of the old, that to find males in full plumage is much more uncommon than toward the time of their departure, when I have thought the males as numerous as the females. Although at times they are very fat, their flesh is fishy and disagreeable. Many of them, however, are offered for sale in our markets. I have often found some of them on inland ponds, which they seemed loth to leave, for, although repeatedly shot at, they would return. Their food is much varied according to situation. On the sea-coast, or in estuaries, they dive after shrimps, small fry, and bivalve shells; and in fresh-water, they feed on small crayfish, leeches, and snails, and even grasses. Not having found any of these birds in Labrador or Newfoundland, I am unable to say anything as to their nests. Dr RICHARDSON states, that they frequent the rivers and fresh-water lakes throughout the Fur Countries in great numbers, but does not mention having observed them breeding. As in almost all other species of this family, the young of both sexes in autumn resemble the adult female. Dr TOWNSEND has found this species on the streams of the Rocky Mountains, and it has been observed as far westward as Monterey in New California. ANAS ALBEOLA, _Linn._ Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 199.—_Lath._ Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 867. ANAS BUCEPHALA, _Linn._ Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 200; ANAS RUSTICA, p. 201. BUFFEL-HEADED DUCK, ANAS ALBEOLA, _Wilson_, American Ornith. vol. viii. p. 51, pl. 67, fig. 2, 3. FULIGULA ALBEOLA, _Ch. Bonaparte_, Synops. of Birds of United States, p. 394. CLANGULA ALBEOLA, SPIRIT DUCK, _Richards. and Swains._ Fauna Bor.-Amer. vol. ii. p. 458. SPIRIT DUCK, _Nuttall_, Manual, vol. ii. p. 445. Adult Male. Plate CCCXXV. Fig. 1.