The Barrow Golden-eye 



General Range. — Northern North America and Iceland. Breeds from south 

 central Alaska and northwestern Mackenzie, south in the mountains to northern 

 California and Colorado, and from northern Ungava (and occasionally Greenland) 

 south to central Quebec. Winters along the coast from southeastern Alaska to Cali- 

 fornia, and from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to New England; in the interior keeps to 

 the edge of the ice line or well within it. Casual in Europe. 



Distribution in California. — Rare winter visitor at the lower levels south at 

 least to San Francisco Bay. Probably an occasional breeder in the high Sierras (the 

 Grand Cirque, extreme northern Fresno County, June 29, 1919). 



Authorities. — Henshaw (Bucephala islandica). Rep. Orn. Wheeler Surv., 1876, 

 p. 274 (San Francisco markets) ; Littlejohn, Condor, vol. xiv., 1912, p. 41 (Redwood 

 City) ; Brooks, Auk, vol. xxxvii., 1920, p. 356, pis. and figs, (criteria for distinguishing 

 Clan gul a islandica). 



THE DISTRIBUTION of Barrow's Golden-eye is very singular and 

 is still imperfectly understood. Coinciding in large measure with that of 

 G. clangula americana, it nevertheless exhibits such eccentric departures, 

 that we cannot determine from its present outlines where the species 

 originated, or when or how it encountered the rival form. For example, 

 islandica breeds commonly in Iceland and, more sparingly, in the Rocky 

 Mountains as far south as southern Colorado, and in the Cascades to 

 central Oregon. Both species press the limit of trees upon the north, 

 and are restrained therein only by their common necessity of hollow trees 

 large enough for nesting purposes. Again, if anything, the Barrow's 

 Golden-eye is a little the hardier of the two, and scarcely deserts its 

 southern breeding range before the oncoming of winter. Its appearance, 

 therefore, in central California is decidedly out of the ordinary, being 

 determined apparently by unusually severe conditions in the northern 

 interior. 



Barrow's Golden-eye is one of the wariest of ducks. It shares with 

 loons and grebes all the traditions of being able to dive at the flash 

 of a gun; and the ease with which it can maintain itself in the midst 

 of a comparatively hostile country is a tribute to both its agility and 

 astuteness. 



While the bird's rarity in this State precludes our further considera- 

 tion, it is not at all impossible that islandica may yet be recorded as a 

 breeder upon some of our higher lakes. In support of this speculation, 

 in which also the authors 1 of "Game Birds of California" join me, I can 

 only cite the case of a bird observed June 30, 1919, upon one of the tiny 

 ice-bound lakes of the Grand Cirque (alt. 11,000 ft.) in extreme north- 

 eastern Fresno County. The bird was a female, or else a male in eclipse 

 plumage (if there is such a thing in this species). 



1 Messrs. Grinnell, Bryant and Storer; see "Game Birds of California," p. 176. 

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