BARROW'S GOLDEN-YE 269 



Barrow's Golden-Eye 



Glaucionetta islandica 



(Bucephala islandica, of Peters) 



(glou-si-o-net-a, is-lan-di-ka; bew-sf-a-la) 



Colour Plates Nos. 20 and 21. Downy Young No. 34. 



SCIENTIFIC NAME 



Glaucionetta from Greek, glaukion, the juice of a plant (copper coloured), 

 referring to the colour of the eye, and netta, meaning duck; islandica, Latin, 

 meaning of Iceland. Bucephala, from Greek, meaning having a broad forehead. 

 The vernacular name "Barrow's" is in honour of Sir John Barrow (1764-1848), 

 secretary to the British Admiralty, and one of the founders of the Royal Geo- 

 graphical Society; he was an ardent promoter of Arctic Exploration. 



COLLOQUIAL NAMES 



IN GENERAL USE: Whistler. IN LOCAL USE: Cock pie-duck; goldeneye; Rocky 

 Mountain golden -eye; whistle-wing; wood duck. 



DESCRIPTION 



ADULT MALE. WINTER PLUMAGE: Head and upper neck, black, glossed with 

 rich purple iridescence; crest, puffy; face, with crescent-shaped white spot between 

 eye and base of bill; neck, short, white; bill, black, shorter than head; eye, bright 

 yellow. Body. Back and rump, black; chest, breast and belly, white; sides, white 

 below, broadly black above, producing a black band on upper part of sides; short 

 inner scapulars, white on inner webs, black on elongated outer webs; longer outer 

 scapulars, white, margined with black on both webs; the effect of this scapular 

 coloration is a series of white spots over closed wing; feet, orange yellow, with 

 dusky webs and clan's. Tail, blackish slate; upper coverts, black, sometimes slightly 

 tipped with whitish in high-plumaged birds; under coverts, white marginally 

 blackish brown. Wings. Lesser coverts, black; middle coverts, white; greater coverts, 

 black, center ones with white tips; primaries, brownish black on inner webs, black 

 on outer webs and at tips; secondaries, mainly white, outer ones, blackish; 

 tertials, blackish; lining and axillars, sooty grey. 



ECLIPSE PLUMAGE: Corresponds to that of American Golden-eye. 

 AUTUMN PLUMAGE: Corresponds to that of American Golden-eye. 

 ADULT FEMALE. See "Specimen Identification" of female American Golden-eye. 



JUVENILE. In early autumn the sexes are alike and similar to adult female. 

 In November the young male acquires inner scapulars similar to those of adult 

 male and the white face-patch begins to show; during the winter white feathers 

 progressively replace the brown juvenile feathers on the chest. By spring the young 

 male is more or less like the adult, except feathers of Jiindneck and sides, and 

 the black-and-white outer scapulars are not complete, and the wing is still immature. 

 By the following November, after the summer moult, both sexes are in full adult 

 plumage. Wing of Male. As in adult female, but lesser and middle coverts, dusky, 

 some of the latter tipped with light grey; greater coverts, black, the central ones 



