Vol. xxiii.] 64 



particulars from any young male of the Common Golden- 

 eye that I have previously handled : — 



'' 1. It is larger than Clangula glaucion (Linn.) in all its 



measurements. 

 " 2, The head is unusually ' bushy .^ 

 "3. The black feathers appearing among the brown on 

 the cheeks, chin, and upper neck have a slight 

 metallic gloss, which is purple rather than 

 green. 

 " 4. The bill is rather short, stout, and very deep at the 



base. 

 '' These points are in favour of the specimen being 

 referred to C. islandica rather than to C. glaucion. 



" Against this supposition we have the shape of the patch 

 below the eye. It is somewhat uncertain what shape 

 this patch would have assumed when completely defined ; 

 but at present it seems more comparable to the oval or 

 rounded patch in the adult male of C. glaucion than to the 

 crescentric white patch between the bill and the eye observed 

 in C. islandica. 



^' It has always surprised me that Barrow^s Golden-eye has 

 never been recorded in Great Britain. If it occurs at all, it 

 might reasonably be expected that the immature birds would 

 far outnumber the adults — perhaps ten young to one adult, 

 or some such proportion. 



'' In immature plumage this species is admittedly very 

 difficult to distinguish from our Common Golden-eye, the 

 size and the shape of the bill being the points on which most 

 stress is laid for differential diagnosis *. 



" Among the skins of C. islandica in the British Museum 

 (Natural History) there are plenty of adult males and 

 females, but no immatic7-e males ; and I have been unable to 

 examine skins in this stage of plumage elsewhere." 



Mr. Ogilvie-Gkant remarked that in company with 



* In my series of immature males of C glaucion the upper mandible 

 at the base measures 2 cm. in depth ; in the presreut immature specimen 

 it measure.^ 2o cm. 



