494 General Notes. loot 



LOct. 



GENERAL NOTES. 



Yellow-billed Loon (Gaoia adamsi) in Colorado. — A Correction. — 



In writing the life history of the Yellow-billed Loon, I have been puzzled 

 to know what to do with the supposed Colorado record of this species. 

 I have always suspected that the record was based on an erroneous identi- 

 fication, as Colorado is so far away from the known range or migration 

 route of this species. 



The specimen on which it was based was taken by Mr. William G. 

 Smith, near Loveland, Colorado, on May 25, 1885. A letter from Mr. 

 Smith to Major Bendire, giving the details of its capture, is now in my hands 

 and states that the bird was sold to Mr. Manly Hardy of Brewer, Maine, 

 now deceased. 



Knowing that the Hardy collection had been recently purchased for the 

 Rhode Island Audubon Society and was now in the Park Museum in Provi- 

 dence, I wrote to my friend, Mr. Harry S. Hathaway, of that city, for his 

 opinion, as to the identity of the specimen. He very kindly investigated 

 the matter and sent me his report, together with a letter on the subject 

 from Mrs. Fanny Hardy Eckstorm, which strengthened my doubts and 

 practically convinced me that the record was based on an error. For 

 my own personal satisfaction, I went to Providence and examined the 

 specimen with Mr. Hathaway. It is not a Yellow-billed Loon, but a very 

 carious specimen of the Common Loon and I am not surprised that Mr. 

 Hardy, and others who have seen it, have been puzzled. Its entire plum- 

 age is decidedly worn and faded to a dull brownish shade. It is a young 

 male in the immature plumage of the first year. Its bill is certainly yellow, 

 the yellowest, or lightest colored, bill I have ever seen in any young loon, 

 which probably led to its identification as Gavia adamsi; but the size and 

 shape of the bill agree with Gavia immer and not with G. adamsi. The 

 culmen measures about 3.20 in. and the depth of the bill at the base is 

 about .90 in. Ridgway's ' Manual ' gives, for G. adamsi, culmen 3.50 to 

 3.65 in. and depth, 1.00 to 1.20 in.; and for G. immer, culmen 2.75 to 3.50 in. 

 and depth .90 to 1 .05 in. The bird in question is small even for Gavia immer 

 notwithstanding the fact that it is a male, and it has a particularly slender 

 bill, even for that species, instead of the large, heavy bill, with the straight 

 culmen so characteristic of Gavia adamsi. It is only fair to Mr. Hardy to 

 say that he was in doubt about the bird and that the record never ought to 

 have stood without verification. I cannot understand why some one, who 

 was competent to identify the bird, did not examine the specimen before 

 the record was published, which would have prevented the frequent repeti- 

 tion of an error, which can never be wholly rectified. Such errors are far 

 too common and I hope that this one will be corrected in the next edition 

 of our Check-List. — A. C. Bent, Taunton, Mass. 



