HISTRIONICUS MINUTUS : HARLEQUIN DUCK. 323 



Grand Menan, N. B. (Bull. Essex Inst., v, 1873, p. 13 of 

 separate issues). We may also refer to the record given 

 by Dr. W. H. Gregg, of the occurrence of the rare bird 

 near Elmira, Chemung Co., N. Y., Dec. 12, 1878 (Am. 

 Nat., xiii, 1879, P- I28 )- 



HARLEQUIN DUCK. 



HISTRIONICUS MINUTUS (L.) Coues. 



Chars. Bill very small and short, with a membraneous lobe at 

 base, rapidly tapering to tip, which is wholly occupied by the 

 fused nail. Tertiaries curly; plumage singularly patched with 

 different colors. Male : deep leaden bluish, browner below ; 

 sides of head, and of body behind, chestnut ; coronal stripe and 

 tail black ; a white patch at base of bill, one on side of occi- 

 put, of breast, and of tail ; two transverse ones on neck nearly 

 forming a collar, and several on wings ; a white jugular collar. 

 Speculum violet-purple. Female : dark brown, pale below, 

 whitening on belly ; a white patch on auriculars and before eye. 

 Length, 15.00-18.00; extent, 27.00; wing, 8.00; bill, i.oo; tar- 

 sus, 1.40. 



An extremely rare winter visitor. Mr. Boardman 

 remarks : " A few apparently somewhat disabled indi- 

 viduals breed on the islands," that is, on the Maine 

 coast and about the bay of Fundy. Mr. Purdie re- 

 cords the species from Hampton, N. H., Nov., 1872. 

 Mr. Allen gives it as a "winter visitor; not common." 

 There is no doubt that it still occurs irregularly on our 

 coast, though much more rarely than in former days. 

 Mr. Merriam does not give it from Connecticut, and I 

 can find no recent records of its capture. Mr. Herrick 

 says of it at Grand Menan : " Common in winter. It 

 is noted among gunners for its diving propensities, it 



