464 THE LONG-TAILED DUCK. 



credit is due Dr. Gilpin, of Halifax, N. S., whose patient 

 investigation was so satisfactory in its results. The data of 

 determination are: 1st, difference in size; the common 

 Golden-eye (the male) being some 19 or 20 inches in length, 

 while Barrow's Golden-eye is several inches longer; 2d, 

 marked difference in the shape of the bill and head; that of 

 islandica being noticeably high at the base, short and 

 pointed; 3d, in marking; the white spot at the base of the 

 bill in cla7igula being oval, while it is triangular or crescent- 

 shaped in islandica^ with a difference also in the wing mark- 

 ings; 4th, and, particularly, in the shape of the trachea; the 

 peculiar and irregular enlargement so marked in clangula^ 

 being much moderated in islandica. (See "the Golden-eyes 

 or Garrot's in Nova Scotia," by Dr. J. Bernard Gilpin.) 



Isla7idica was first found in the Rocky Mountains, but has 

 since occurred frequently on the Atlantic Coast in winter, 

 even as far south as New York. 



THE LONG-TAILED DUCK. 



Most common, from fall till spring, on the Niagara River, 

 is the sight and sound of the Long-tailed Duck [Harelda gla- 

 cialis) alias, Old Wife, South-southerly Coween, or Ha-ha- we, 

 as the Indians at Hudson's Bay call it. Though almost use- 

 less for the table, on account of its molluscous and fishy 

 diet, its beauty and individual peculiarities always render 

 it an object of interest to the sportsman. Its body, so short 

 and thick that it is almost round, bill unusually short and 

 small, neck thick, and central feathers of the tail long, the 

 form is well characterized; the black bill banded with 

 orange near the tip; the iris of bright carmine; the head 

 and neck well down upon the back, white; cheeks and fore- 

 head of light drab running into a large black patch on the 

 sides of the neck, which patch shades again into brown; 



