The Buffle-Head Breeding in California
The Buffle-head Breeding in California
The writer has been unable to locate any published record of the Buffle-head (Charitonetta albeola) breeding within the State of California. For this reason the following observations are here reported. On June 22, 1921, while engaged in fur-bearing mammal investigations at Eagle Lake, Lassen County, the writer, when looking for muskrats in a tule patch, came suddenly upon a female Buffle-head that was accompanied by two young about one-third grown. The small size, chunky build, plain grayish brown back, long white patch on each side of the head behind and below the level of the eye, together with a small white patch, crossed by a narrow black bar, on the wing, all identified with certainty the old bird as a female Bufflehead. The Young were darker than their mother but had a conspicuous white patch on each cheek. Two days later, at the same locality, another female, accompanied by eight half-grown young, was seen. Two other females flew by our boat making a total of four adult females and ten young noted in three days. Every duck seen was closely scrutinized with the binoculars, but not one adult male Buffle-head could we detect. From the above it Seems likely that the Ruffle-head Duck bred in some numbers this season at Eagle Lake.
Joseph Dixon
Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, Berkeley, California, June 27, 1921
