1909 1 Brewster, Barrow's Golden^eye in Massachusetts. 155 



orange spot [on the bill] appears to be common for this species, 

 it is not entirely peculiar to it, since other kinds (sic) frequently 

 possess it." 



During the period when Prof. Baird was most actively engaged 

 in studying and writing about North American birds many of them 

 were represented in collections — even those of our larger museums, 

 such as the Smithsonian Institution — by only a very few specimens 

 and these, perhaps, too ill supplied with data, or in too poor condi- 

 tion to be of much value for scientific purposes. Hence he often 

 had to deal with difficult problems in ornithology without the aid 

 (now considered so indispensable) of adequate material for study 

 and comparison. But his acumen in detecting slight or obscure 

 characters and differences was so remarkable, and his judgment 

 in deciding as to their value and signification so nearly unerring, 

 that he made few positive mistakes, while most of his published 

 opinions and deductions have so stood the test of time that they 

 appear not less sound and convincing now than they did thirty or 

 forty years ago. He was not infallible, however, and in respect 

 to my Golden-eyes I fear he was at least partly in error. Unfortu- 

 nately, neither of the specimens he saw is now available for examina- 

 tion. He probably kept the head but if so it does not seem to be in 

 the Smithsonian Institution, for Dr. Richmond writes me under 

 date of December 30, 1908: "I have searched our records and those 

 in the osteological collection, and find only one head mentioned 

 that may belong to the case referred to in your letter. This is a 

 head catalogued by Mr. Ridgway in Nov., 1883, as 'C languid 

 americana cT ad.,' the locality and donor said to be unknown .... 

 I cannot find any record of this specimen having been catalogued 

 between 1871 and 1872, or of any specimen received from you before 

 about 1879." 



What became of the skin I am unable to say definitely but I 

 think it remained in my possession until 1880 when it may have 

 been discarded with a number of other birds which I gave away or 

 burned just before making a catalogue of my collection, in which 

 this Golden-eye was not entered. Of course I should have kept 

 it because of the fact that it had served as the basis of a published 

 record, after having been identified by Prof. Baird, but it was in 

 poor condition and before parting with it I had become satisfied 



