158 Brewster, Barrow's Golden-eye in Massachusetts. [ Ajjjj 



accustomed to consider only the size or shape of the bill as of im- 

 portance for purposes of identification; Mr. Ridgway seems to 

 have relied at first (t. c, in 18S4) solely on the color of the head and 

 neck and on the presence or absence of a dark bar on the wing, as 

 marks of distinction; but in both editions (published respectively 

 in 1SS7 and 1S96) of his 'Manual of North American Birds' 

 he recognized additional characters by indicating briefly, without 

 discussion, that in Barrow's Golden-eve the bill is shorter and more 

 abruptly tapered, with a broader nail, and the gray band on the 

 chest of the female broader, and usually deeper, than in the Ameri- 

 can Golden-eye. My own impression of the matter, based on the 

 examination of a large number of American Golden-eye and of 

 no less than eleven undoubted specimens ' of Barrow's Golden-eye 

 now in my collection, is that typical females of islandica are quite as 

 unlike those of americana in color and markings as in the shape and 

 proportions of the bill, and that the two birds may best be dis- 

 tinguished from one another by the following characters, most of 

 which have been noted, of course, by previous authors. 



Clangula islandica. Bill comparatively short ami abruptly tapered, 

 laterally as well as vertically; sometimes almost wholly yellow in color (ex- 

 cept on the nail and cutting edges which are always (?) blackl, invariably 

 (?) with more or less yellow on both mandibles near the tip. Brown of 

 head and neck rich, dark sepia, often tinged with blackish or (slightly) 

 with purplish. Ashy on chest broad and pronounced. Greater wing- 

 covert usually (but not invariably) tipped with black which, as a rule, 

 forms a practically continuous dark band dividing the white into two dis- 

 tinct areas. 



Clangula clangula americana. Bill longer and less abruptly tapered, 

 especially laterally, the reduction in width towards the tip being much less 

 noticeable; both mandibles often unicolored, or nearly so, the color being 

 for the most part brown varying with age (?) from light wood brown to very 

 dark brown or blackish. Brown of head and neck lighter and commonly 

 hair-brown or grayish umber. Ashy band on chest narrower ami paler, 

 sometimes almost wanting. White patch on wing often immaculate or 

 only imperfectly divided by a line of disconnected dark spots on the tips 

 of the greater coverts. 



The decided reduction in the width of the bill of islandica near 

 its tip is, I think, the best of all the distinctive characters, afforded 



1 With a single exception, all these birds were taken on the coast of Maine, in 

 the months of January, February, March and April. 



