' J920 I Brooks, Notes on American Ducks. Out 



and the black comes almost, or quite, to the water line in front 

 of the wing. 



But while a child could distinguish the adult males of the two 

 species, it is a very different matter when it comes to the females 

 and young. 



The case of the Cinnamon and Blue-winged Teal is similar, 

 and there are many others where two utterly dissimilar males 

 have females that are almost identical. In the Golden-eyes this 

 has been complicated by the oft-quoted recognition marks that 

 have no value, as they are common to both species. 



Perhaps it may be as well to go over the accepted and proffered 

 distinctions for separating islandica from americana. 



1. The wing bar. This is the most often quoted distinction. 

 In the adult male of Barrow's there is certainly a constant and 

 conspicuous black bar separating the white patch on the wing, 

 this is caused by the bases of the greater coverts being black. 

 But the bar formed by the black tipping of these feathers in the 

 females and young is, as pointed out by Mr. Brewster (Auk, 

 Vol. XXVI, p. 159), an utterly valueless distinction, as both 

 species may or may not have it in different individuals. 



Five adult females of Barrow's in my collection have these 

 feathers as follows: 



No. 1. Solid black, no bar. 



No. 2. Base black, terminal half white with small black tips, 

 forming a slight bar. 



No. 3. Tips black, well-defined bar. 



No. 4. Trace of spots on tips of two feathers, no bar. 



No. 5. Slight bar. 



All of these are absolutely identified, being taken in the spring 

 when paired. 



The most pronounced bar in a female in my collection belongs 

 to an otherwise typical americana, which has all the coverts tipped 

 black, while another has a trace of a bar. 



2. Deeper coloring of head and neck in female Barrow's. This 

 is a fairly reliable distinction but it is a comparative one. Ridg- 

 way in his manual says of islandica, "brown of head descending 

 to middle of neck all round." I can see no difference in amount 

 of brown in fresh specimens of the two species; the above dis- 

 tinction probably depends on the make-up of the skin. 



