SUBFAMILY FULIGULINAi. 289 



which serve not only no useful purpose whatever, but mystify 

 and confuse the student. Therefore, as I can find no reliable 

 characters to distinguish the American and European Golden 

 Eye from each other, and no certain line of demarcation between 

 them, I have deemed it both unnecessary and unwise to retain 

 the name given to our bird, for I cannot see that its claim to be 

 considered even a subspecies has in any way been satisfactorily 

 established. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES. 



A . Bill high at base, narrowing toward tip. 

 a. Nostrils nearer the tip than base of bill. 



, T-, ■. -, , ,.. \ GOLDEN EYE. 



a . Head and upper neck metallic green, r p dansrula A 



^ barrow's 

 b' . Head and upper neck metallic blue. [■ golden eye. 



) C. islandica. 5 

 (^ . Head and upper neck hair brown. 

 a" . Height of bill at base less than dis- \ 

 tance from anterior edge of nostril to >■ / o 



nearest loral feathers. ) ' ^ ^ ' * 



6". Height of bill at base equal to dis- \ barrow's 

 tance from anterior edge of nostril to > golden-eye. 

 nearest loral feathers. * C. islandica. $ 



GENUS CHARITONETTA 

 (Greek xi^pix, charis, graceful -|- viTra., netta, a duck). 



Charitonetta, Stejn. Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1885, No. 29, p. 

 163. Type Anas albeola, Linn. 



Bill about two-thirds length of head, height at base half the 

 length of culmen. Nail rather narrow, curving downward. An- 

 terior end of nostril nearer the loral feathers than the tip of bill. 

 Head bunchy. Tail more than twice as long as tarsus. 



Only one species is included in this genus, the common Buffle 

 Head Duck. By some authors it is kept in the previous genus 

 Clangula. The Buffle Head is a native of North America, strag- 

 gling occasionally, when it loses its way, to Cuba and even to 

 Europe; the last, however, rather exceptional. The male is a 

 beautiful bird, the head rejoicing in rich metallic colors, and in 

 its general appearance he is a diminutive Golden Eye. 



