740 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 



is restricted very closely to the coasts of the north Atlantic and has rarely 

 or never been taken at any distance inland. To the average observer 

 the two species look precisely alike, but there are numerous points of 

 difference, the simplest being the number of tail-feathers, carho having 

 fourteen and auritus but twelve. 



Harlequin Duck. Histrionicus histrionicus {Linn.). (155) 

 Synonyms: Painted Duck, Mountain Duck, Rock Duck. 



The male, readily known by the remarkable pattern of coloration, which 

 has given it the name Harlequin, is slaty blue, black, and mahogany-red, 

 with spots, rings and patches of pure white. 



We know of no specimen of this duck taken within the limits of the 

 state. Covert in his manuscript list of 1894-95 states that a specimen 

 was taken at Tawas Bay (Lake Huron), in January 1893 by John Symes; 

 we have been unable, however, to verify this statement. Dr. Gibbs states 

 that a specimen was shot on Lake Michigan near Chicago, and is now 

 in the collection of the Chicago Academy of science. Kumlien & Hollister 

 say ''Rare winter straggler to Lake Michigan. Dr. Hoy obtained at 

 least four specimens at Racine, and there is an old record, specimen not 

 extant however, for Milwaukee" (Birds of Wisconsin, p. 25). The bird 

 is fairly common and perfectly well known along the coast of Maine'and 

 New Brunswick, and also occurs in numbers in parts of the Hudson Bay 

 region and in the high lakes of the northern Rocky Mountains and the 

 Sierra Nevadas. The Harlequin loves cold weather and ice, and if it 

 occurs at all within our limits it would be only during the winter season 

 and in very small numbers. In the Fur Countries it is said by Sir John 

 Richardson to frequent the eddies below waterfalls and similar localities 

 in rapid streams. 



Labrador Duck. Camptorhynchus labradorius (GnirJ.). (156) 



Distribution. — Formerly northern Atlantic Coast, from New Jersey 

 (in winter) northward, breeding from Labrador northward. Now extinct. 



The claim of this duck to a place in the Michigan fauna rests mainly if 

 not entirely on the statement of Mr. A. B. Covert of Ann Arbor, who, in 

 company with Mr. Joshua Jones of the same place, took a specimen which 

 Mr. Covert believes was a Labrador Duck, near Delhi Mills, Washtenaw 

 county, iMichigan, April 17, 1872. No other naturalist appears to have 

 examined this specimen, which was mounted and in IMr. Jones' collection 

 for many years. Subsequently Mr. Jones died, his collection was scattered, 

 and the specimen has never been located. The bird was a young bird 

 and may easily have been something else than the Labrador Duck. 

 Reference to this specimen is made in Forest and Stream of May 4, 1876. 

 Stockwell in his list of Michigan birds (F. & S. VIII, 23, 380) says "An 

 accidental visitor to Michigan; one or two specimens have been seen in 

 Georgian Bay." Other writers fail to mention the species, and while it 

 is possible it does not seem probable that the bird was ever found in numbers 

 on the Great Lakes. No doubt whatever exists that it is entirely extinct 

 at the present time. The last specimen seen alive was a female shot by 

 Mr. Cheney near the Island of Grand IMenan, N. B. (near Eastport, Me.) 

 in April 1871. 



