The Ducks of Plymouth County, Massachusetts, 
by Herbert K.Job. 
Auk, Xlll, July, 1S96, pp. 197-204. 
See under Anas obscura . 
Barrow’s Golden-eye ( Clangula islandica ) in Massachusetts. — As this 
bird seems to be of rare occurrence in Massachusetts I would like to call 
attention to its having been taken at Nantucket on December 17, 1906. 
It was a male specimen in the adult plumage and was shot by Charles C. 
Chadwick, a native of the island, and whom I have had occasion to go 
shooting with several times. The bird was shot at the eastern end of the 
harbor where there is an opening into the ocean known as Haulo ver Break. 
At daylight and until sunrise a large flight of sea fowl streams through 
here on their way to the feeding grounds in the harbor. They consist 
mostly of White-winged Scoters ( Oidemia deglandi), American Golden- 
eyes ( Clangula clangula americana), Old-squaws ( Harelda hyemalis), and a 
few Red-breasted Mergansers {Merganser serrator); this latter bird being 
very common later on in the spring. The bird in question was shot at this 
time during the flight, and was flying singly. Chadwick was unable to 
identify the specimen but supposed it to be a freak Clangula clangula ameri- 
cana. He showed it to several of the oldest gunners on the island but 
none had ever seen one like it before. Unfortunately the bird was destroyed 
in ignorance. I have been unable to find any recent records of the capture 
of this bird in Massachusetts and I believe it is considered a rare bird here, 
though a few are occasionally taken in Maine. — S. Prescott Fay, Boston, 
Mass. 
Auk 26. AW-l» 08 ,p. It? 
Barrow’s Golden-eye at Wareham, Mass. — I am indebted to Mr. 
C. A. Robbins for the freshly-prepared skins of a female Barrow’s Golden- 
eye and for permission to report that the bird was killed in Wareham by 
L. P. Hacket, a local gunner, on November 27, 1915. Mr. Robbins states 
further that “ it was shot from a stone breakwater within one hundred 
yards of the shore and at a point almost exactly at the head of the broadest 
expanse of Buzzard’s Bay. Although other Golden-eyes were feeding or 
in flight near by, this bird was accompanied by but one other (a female or 
young male).” On comparing the specimen with series of skins in my 
collection I find that with respect to every essential characteristic of both 
form and coloring it is a perfectly typical representation of C. islandica. 
The interest attaching to its occurrence is enhanced by the fact that so few 
birds of its sex and species have heretofore been reported from anywhere 
along the Massachusetts Coast. No doubt they visit this oftener than we 
realize, being overlooked because so closely similar to female Whistlers. — 
William Brewster, Cambridge, Mass. 
