397 
GOLDEN EYES, OR GARROTS—GILPIN. 
slightly yellowish wash on head and cheeks, a small ashy white 
ring about neck, then a French grey collar with white pencilling 
about two inches broad. Below this the breast, belly, and be¬ 
neath tail pure white, with the sides of the belly having black 
and grey pencilling, and an interrupted line of black crossing the 
vent. These pencillings were darker about and behind the 
thighs. On the hack, the French grey collar spread itself over 
the shoulders and back, insensibly joining with the sooty black 
of back, rump, and tail. Each feather having a lighter edge than 
middle, it gave one the idea of scales. The primaries were black, 
but the secondaries and speculum white, a few black spots on 
the last of them making the white bar obscure, a little above the 
speculum, an interrupted bar of white, black and grey upon wing 
coverts one-half inch wide and two and one-half ins. long. In- 
dsie of wing primaries, secondaries and tertiaries plumbous, other 
parts dark, irides golden yellow, bill yellow, with black nail, 
margins and tips of lower mandible black, upper mandible with 
a few black markings on front and sides. Feet as bright orange 
as in the male, and marked the same—toes and webs black, hind 
toe black inside with yellow edging, outside yellow, black line 
inside leg. This is an exact description, but in looking over a 
series I find they differ in darker or lighter plumage; the um¬ 
ber brown of the head running in some into black, and black 
with green reflections. 
In studying the specimens of both species, both male and 
female, I found that whilst the males of both species had black 
bills, the females and immature birds had many specimens with 
yellow and black bills. In these cases the nail and the margins 
of both bills were invariably black, whilst in some cases the yel¬ 
low covered nearly the whole of the bill, at other times only 
below the nostrils, and again with scarce a trace upon the cul- 
men. There were females of both species with all black bills 
and some young males of the common golden eye with yellow 
bills. I have no doubt that the Rocky mountain young males 
would also be found with yellow bills, but I have no specimens. 
From the very few yellow bills in comparison with the dark ones 
found, we are led to conclude that the yellow is only as it were 
