78 BIRD NAMES. 



so the second distinguishes it from Barrow's Golden-eye,* a 

 species of our own which is not " common," to Eastern gunners 

 at least. 



MOERILLON (Arctic Zoology, 1785) : GARROT, another Old 

 World title early applied to our bird: CONJURING -DUCK: 

 SPIRIT-DUCK. Eichardson, 1831, speaks of these last two names 

 as given in the fur countries to both this species and No. 24, be- 

 cause of their instantaneous disappearance "at the flash of a 

 gun or the twang of a bow." 



" Sometimes called by our gunners the BRASS-EYED WHIST- 

 LER" (Nuttall's Water Birds, Boston, 1834). BRASS-EYE, men- 

 tioned by DeKay, Zoology of New York, 1844. 



From Eastport, Me., to Falmouth, Mass., on the Niagara 

 Eiver, at Chicago, along the Connecticut coast, and at Shinne- 

 cock Bay, L. I., WHISTLER. 



At Milford, Conn., and Shinnecock, the adult drake, though 

 recognized by all as of the same species with the rest, is com- 

 monly referred to as the " pied Whistler."f 



At Niagara Falls, Chicago, Newport, R. I., and Alexandria, 

 Ya., WHISTLE-WING; at Cape May C. H., N. J., WHISTLE DUCK; 

 and we find this latter form in Beesley's Birds of Cape May, 

 1857. 



Another and very pretty name, heard at Lyme, Conn., but 

 almost exclusively among the old people, is MERRY- WING. A 

 disagreement, however, exists concerning its use, whether it right- 

 fully belongs to this fowl or the following, No. 24. Having ob- 

 tained equally reliable testimony on both sides I record the name 

 in both lists. 



* The Barrow's Golden-eye, or Rocky Mountain Gai-rot, is very similar in 

 general appearance to the present species, but the adult drake has the white 

 patch between the bill and eye crescent-shaped, and the species are in other 

 ways distinguishable. 



t The word "pied" is peculiarly popular on Long Island, where the gun- 

 ners prefix it to local names to designate the "full dressed" male of any 

 species whose plumage is pied or showily variegated, and when I asked an 

 old ducker if he did not think the present species particularly handsome, he 

 said, "Yes, the pied oues are very handsome." 



