Vol. XXVI 

 19 



Brewster, Barrow's Golden-eye in Massachusetts. 153 



186. Sitta canadensis. Red-bellied Nuthatch. — A common resident 

 in the Hills. 



187. Penthestes atricapillus septentrionalis. Long-tailed Chickadee.* 

 — Abundant breeder. 



188. Myadestes townsendi. Townsend Solitaire. — Taken by Hay- 

 den; abundant breeder about Custer Peak; young seen. 



189. Hylocichla mustelina. Wood Thrush. — Common breeder at 

 Fort Pierre (Hayden). 



190. Hylocichla alicise. Gray-cheeked Thrush. — Black Hills, 1857 

 (Hayden). 



191. Hylocichla ustulata swainsoni. Olive-backed Thrush. — Rare 

 migrant (Sweet). 



192. Merula migratoria. Robin.* — Rare summer visitant, except in 

 a few foot-hill towns. 



193. Sialia sialis. Bluebird. — Nests at Rapid City. Common in 

 summer (Sweet). 



194. Sialia currucoides. Mountain Bluebird.* — Very abundant 

 (Grinnell). Only a few seen, in the Hills. 



BARROW'S GOLDEN-EYE IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



BY WILLIAM BREWSTER. 



It is never very pleasant to admit mistakes that one has made, 

 however pardonable they may appear. If the fact of their com- 

 mission can be established only by elaborate argument, backed by 

 evidence not perhaps wholly conclusive, the necessity for confession 

 is doubly hard to face. Yet it is to precisely such a task as this 

 that I now find myself committed. I came near undertaking it 

 as far back as 1880 but I was not then prepared to discuss the matter 

 effectively and it was afterwards forgotten. Now that it has again 

 been brought to my attention I shall deal with it as briefly as possible. 



Many years ago I reported in the 'American Naturalist ' ' that 

 "an adult female" Golden-eye "pronounced by Prof. Baird" to be 

 "unquestionably B. Icelandica" had come into my possession "in 

 the flesh from Cape Cod, December 7th, 1871" and that during 



1 Vol. VI, No. 5, May, 1872, pp. 306, 307. 



