BIRDS OF ESSEX COUNTY. 



139 



breast. The white feathers of his flanks roll over his wings. The female and 

 young should not be mistaken for Redheads, a possibility that has already been 

 considered. 



60 [152] Clangula islandica (Gmel.). 

 Barrow's Golden-eye. 



Accidental winter visitor. 



In the collection of the Boston Society of Natural History there is a fine 

 male labeled Ipswich, January 27th, 1879. In the records of the late Dr. J. A. 

 Jeffries there is a note written in March, 187S, that a male of this species "was 

 shot off Nahant this winter on authority of Tufts." It is probable that a beauti- 

 ful male in the collection of the Lawrence Natural History Society, in the Pub- 

 lic Library building of that city is this specimen. There is no record attached 

 or in existence, but Mr. Baldwin Coolidge, who originally collected the birds 

 largely by purchase, told me that he remembers that it was shot near Lynn, 

 about 1877. I obtained these two records separately but their correspondence is 

 very perfect. Howe and Allen 1 give only a few other records for the State, not 

 including the 1877 record. 



61 [ J S3] Charitonetta albeola (Linn.). 



BUFFLEHEAD; " DlPPER." 



Not uncommon transient visitor, rare in winter ; October 9 to December 5 

 (winter) ; March 28. 



These birds are commonly called " Dippers " in Essex County from the 

 facility with which they dive. They are found in the ocean, in the salt creeks, 

 and in the ponds, though they forsake the ponds as soon as ice closes them. 

 Their flight is almost as rapid as that of a bullet, and by their quickness in div- 

 ing they can easily distance the shot from the muzzle of a gun. In the autumn 

 the majority of the birds seen are in female and immature plumage but occasion- 

 ally an adult male may be found with his splendid greenish black head and large 

 triangle of white extending from behind the eye to the top of the head. The 



1 R. H. Howe, Jr., and G. M. Allen : The Birds of Massachusetts, p. 55, 1901. 



