BARROW'S GOLDEA' EYE. l8l 



Merganser. Sometimes these holes are so deep that the 

 eggs are entirely out of reach. 



Barrow's Golden Eye is a somewhat larger and hand- 

 somer bird than the common species, with the crested 

 head beautifully colored in metallic hues of green, blue, 

 and violet, changing as the rays of light fall upon it. 

 The large crescentic white mark before the eye in the 

 male will always easily distinguish this bird from its rela- 

 tive, and it is to be wondered that the two v/ere ever con- 

 sidered as one species. The females of the two forms 

 are very difficult to distinguish apart, and at times will 

 bother even an expert. The chief difference is in the bill, 

 that of Barrow's Golden Eye being much shorter and 

 higher at the base. Another method of distinguish- 

 ing these birds is given at the end of the description 

 of the plumage; but the dress of the females is 

 almost identically the same. The present species fre- 

 quents our lakes and rivers and feeds upon shell-fish and 

 grasses. I have found it at times quite numerous on the 

 St. Lawrence near Ogdensburgh, and have killed a 

 goodly number there over decoys, and some speci- 

 mens, procured on these occasions, are now in the 

 Museum of Natural History in New York. The two 

 species were associated together on the river, and I never 

 knew which one would come to the decoys, but I do not 

 remember that both ever came together unless it 

 might be the females, for, as I have said, it was difficult to 

 distinguish them without an examination. 



The birds would fly up and down the river, doubtless 

 coming from, and going to, Lake Erie, stopping occa- 

 sionally in the coves to feed, and floating down with the 

 current for a considerable distance, when they w^ould rise 

 and fly up stream again. My decoys were always placed 

 in some cove or bend of the stream where the current was 



