18 BULLETIN 130, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



are practically indistinginshable from those of the common golden- 

 eye, though they may average slightly larger. The shape varies 

 from elliptical ovate or elliptical oval to nearly oval. The color 

 varies from " deep lichen green " to " pale olivine " or " pale glass 

 green " ; when freshly laid some of the darkest eggs may approach a 

 pale shade of " malachite green." The measurement of 79 eggs,. 

 in various collections, average 61.3 by 44 millimeters; the eggs show- 

 ing the four extremes measure 66.6 by 42, 61 by 47.2, 57.3 by 42, and 

 61.9 by 41.4 millimeters. 



Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain, who has studied the Barrow goldeneye in 

 Iceland, writes me that incubation is performed by the female alone 

 and that it is said to last for four weeks ; he says that the female sits 

 very closely and at times has to be removed by force, if one wants to 

 see the eggs. The male remains close at hand during incubation. 



Mr. Munro, however (1918), writes: 



Immature males leave the country with the adult males in May, soon after 

 the females have begun to brood their eggs. I have never seen an adult male 

 at this season. Mr. Allan Brooks is of the opinion that the males go directly 

 to the coast at this time. 



Young. — He says of the young: 



May 22 is the earliest date on which I have seen the young, and by August 1 

 they are full grown. At this time they are remarkably tame, allowing an 

 approach to within a few yards and then, if alarmed, swimming to the middle 

 of the lake, rather than taking wing. This fearlessness is characteristic until 

 the shooting season opens in September, when they soon become wary. At 

 this time, the birds rise from the water as one approaches, but almost in- 

 variably circle about the lake several times and then fly toward anyone stand- 

 ing on the shore, thus affording an easy shot. By the last week in October, 

 when the common goldenej'^e, redhead, and scaups are returning from the 

 north, the last of the Barrow goldeneyes have left. 



Plumages. — The downy young of the Barrow goldeneye is very 

 much like that of the common goldeneye. The upper half of the 

 head, from below the eyes, and the hind neck are deep " bone brown " 

 or " seal brown " ; the upper parts are " bone brown," relieved by 

 white on the edge of the wing and by scapular and rump spots of 

 white; the lower half of the head and the under parts are white j 

 there is a brownish gray band around the lower neck. 



The plumage changes are similar to those of the common golden- 

 eye. Of the development of the plumage in the young male, Mr. 

 Millais (1913) says: 



In November the new inner scapulars appear, and these at once give a char- 

 acter to the identification of the species. The black portion of the inner 

 scapulars is much extended in Barrow's goldeneye, whereas in the common 

 goldeneye it is confined to the margin of the feathers. At this date, too, the 

 first white feathers come in between the bill and the eye. These increase in 

 number throughout the winter, whilst numbers of pure white feathers come 



