No. 23.] BIRD NAMES. 79 



At Plymouth, Mass., though " Whistler " is the more com- 

 mon appellation, we occasionally hear that of GOLDEN-EYE, * 

 and this latter name is the common one at Detroit, and we meet 

 with it (among other names) at Chicago. 



At Seaford (Hempstead), L. L, GREAT-HEAD ;f in New 

 Jersey at Barnegat, Tuckerton, Pleasantville (Atlantic Co.), 

 Atlantic City, and Somers Point, CUB-HEAD ; at Cape May C. H., 

 COB-HEAD, the last name being monopolized, however, by the 

 young birds, which are regarded as a species distinct from the 

 "Whistle-ducks." At Havre de Grace, Md., BULL-HEAD; at 

 Morehead, K C., IRON-HEAD. The name Cob - head is again 

 heard at Cape May City, where the species is also very generally 

 known as CUR ; a name that may have come from likening the 

 bird's note to that of a dog.J But whatever the origin, this rather 

 contemptuous title certainly has the charm of brevity, and is, 

 in this respect at least, preferable to " Glaucionetta clangula 

 americana?"* 



At Pleasantville (before mentioned), JINGLER ; at Baltimore 

 and on the Patapsco River, WHIFFLER; at Crisfield (Somerset 

 Co.), Md., KING DIVER. 



* See No. 19 for " Golden-eyes." 



t Giraud writes, Birds of Long Island, 1844, "by some it is called Great 

 Head." 



| Since writing the above, I have found that in portions of Great Britain 

 the name "Curre" is given to the Golden-eye C. clangula ; and Swainson says, 

 in his Provincial Names of British Birds, that this is " from the bird's croak- 

 ing cry." 



