100 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 
skin of a female taken March 22, 1907, by Mr. Bernard DeBries, on 
Black Lake, Ottawa county. To remove all possible doubt this specimen 
was referred to the U. 8. National Museum, at Washington, D. C., 
and the identification confirmed by Dr. C. W. Richmond. So far as we 
know this is still the only unquestionable Michigan specimen on record. 
Specimens have been taken in Wisconsin, Ontario, Illinois, Indiana, and 
Ohio, and there can be no doubt 
that the bird occurs once in a 
while in Michigan waters in 
winter. Nelson states (Bull. 
Nutt. Orn. Club, I, 41) that it 
occurs on Lake Michigan in 
winter. Stockwell (F. & 8. 
VIII, 380) says ‘Common on 
St. Clair Flats and Sarnia Bay, 
Michigan, in winter.” This 
certainly is not true now what- 
ever may have been the case 
twenty years ago. 
In a letter dated December 
15, 1906, Mr. B. H. Swales of 
Detroit states that he has good 
reason to believe that a bird of , ¢ 
crete ee Fig. 24. Barrow’s Goldeneye. 
this species was taken OM the De- From Coues’ Key to North American Birds, 5th ed. 
troit River about April 1, 1905, (Dana Estes & Co.) 
and mounted by Mr. Campion 
of that city. The latter described the bird accurately and sketched the 
crescentic white spot on the side of the head which is so different from 
the circular or oval spot of the common Whistler. 
The statement in Cook’s Birds of Michigan (1893, 2nd edition, p. 43) 
as to the capture of a specimen at Hillsdale in 1892, proves to be an error. 
Prof. Frank Smith, now of Ilinois University, who mounted the specimen, 
states that it was a female of the common Golden-eye. The statement 
on the same page attributed to N. A. Iddy of Bay City is also incorrect, 
Mr. Eddy himself having informed me that he has never taken this species 
in Michigan waters. There is an adult female of Barrow’s Golden-eye 
in the Kent Scientific Museum at Grand Rapids, but its origin is entirely 
unknown. I<umlien & Hollister (Birds of Wisconsin, p. 24) say ‘Large 
numbers of Golden-eyes remain on Lake Michigan during winter, and no 
doubt this species [Barrow’s] is of regular occurrence with them. It was 
reported from Racine in 1860 by Dr. Hoy; one specimen was sent to Thure 
IXumlien from Edgerton in 1877, and one was shot by L. Kumlien No- 
vember 14, 1896, on Lake IXoshkonong.” 
Its nesting habits are similar to: those of the Whistler, but it does not 
nest within our limits. The eggs are dull pea-green, or pale grayish pea- 
green, and average 2.47 by 1.77 inches. 
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 
Adult male: Bill black, feet orange yellow. Similar in general to the male Whistler, 
but the white spot on the side of the head larger, somewhat crescent-shaped, and rounded 
triangular in outline, the broad base near the corner of the mouth and the apex well above 
the eye. The conspicuous white wing patch is crossed by a broad black bar, which is 
not found in the common Whistler. The female is described by Ridgway as having the 
“brown of head (usually a deep sepia or purplish snuff-brown) descending to the middle 
