100 



MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 



skin of a female taken March 22, 1907, by Mr. Bernard DeBries, on 

 Black Lake, Ottawa county. To remove all possible cloul)t this specimen 

 was referred to the U. S. National Museum, at Washington, 1). C, 

 and the identification confirmed by Dr. C. W. Richmond. So far as we 

 know this is still the only unquestionable Michigan specimen on record. 

 Specimens have been taken in Wisconsin, Ontario, Illinois, Indiana, and 

 Ohio, and there can be no doubt 

 that the bird occurs once in a 

 while in Michigan waters in 

 winter. Nelson states (Bull. 

 Nutt. Orn. Club, I, 41) that it 

 occurs on Lake Michigan in 

 winter. Stockwell (F. & S. 

 VIII, 380) says "Common on 

 St. Clair Flats and Sarnia Bay, 

 Michigan, in winter." This 

 certainly is not true now what- 

 ever may have been the case 

 twenty years ago. 



In a letter dated December 

 15, 1906, Mr. B. H. Swales of 

 Detroit states that he has good 

 reason to believe that a bird of 

 this species was taken on the De- 

 troit River about April 1, 1905, 

 and mounted by Mr. Campion 



of that city. The latter described the bird accurately and sketched the 

 crescentic white spot on the side of the head which is so different fi'om 

 the circular or oval spot of the common Whistler. 



The statement in Cook's Birds of Michigan (1893, 2nd edition, p. 43) 

 as to the capture of a specimen at Hillsdale in 1892, proves to be an error. 

 Prof. Frank Smith, now of Illinois University, who mounted the specimen, 

 states that it was a female of the common Golden-eye. The statement 

 on the same page attributed to N. A. Eddy of Bay City is also incorrect, 

 Mr. Eddy himself having informed me that he has never taken this species 

 in Michigan waters. There is an adult female of Barrow's Golden-eye 

 in the Kent Scientific Museum at Grand Rapids, but its origin is entirely 

 unknown. Kumlien & Hollister (Birds of Wisconsin, p. 24) say "Large 

 numbers of Golden-eyes remain on Lake Michigan during winter, and no 

 doubt this species [Barrow's] is of regular occurrence with them. It was 

 reported from Racine in 1860 by Dr. Hoy; one specimen was sent to Thure 

 Kumlien from Edgerton in 1877, and one was shot by L. Kumlien No- 

 vember 14, 1896, on Lake Koshkonong." 



Its nesting habits are similar to those of the Whistler, but it does not 

 nest within our limits. The eggs are dull pea-green, or pale grayish pea- 

 green, and average 2.47 by 1.77 inches. 



Fig. 24. Barrow's Goldeneye. 



From Coues' Key to North American Birds, 5th ed. 



(Dana Estes & Co.) 



TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 



Adult male: Bill black, feet orange yellow. Similar in general to the male Whistler, 

 but the white spot on the side of the head larger, somewhat crescent-shaped, and rounded 

 triangular in outline, the broad base near the corner of the mouth and the apex well above 

 the eye. The conspicuous white wing patch is crossed by a broad black bar, which is 

 not found in the common Whistler. The female is described by Ridgway as having the 

 "brown of head (usually a deep sepia or purplish snuflf-brown) descending to the middle 



