1 * u aiH^ ;Jl I 5 caf% C- z_» 1 S S5 2 § "2 O Q>\ C3» -- Ci fe) 0 I I 3 £ ARY0/Jk r^ ^ 0 i i liirri 1 S / *4? -x,^-' ^^ OJO^ ^OJIIVD-JO^ /rv- irri The cuckoo and the gowk, The laverock and the lark, The twire-snipe, the weather-bleak; How many birds is that? Ki.l.ll.-rli) in.-. 17th I ,-Mfurj . 55C873 INTRODUCTION. FOLLOWING is a list of jx>pular and local names applied by English-speaking people to birds which particularly interest gunners : including, however, only those species which are found in the eastern half of the United States ; and, again, only those birds which bear aliases to a confusing degree. One reason that these non-scientific titles have never before been so thoroughly brought together, is a belief that an unravel- ling of so tangled a skein was practically impossible : so many names being used for more than one species, and so many hav- ing been given to one and the same bird. Ornithologists have therefore had the field much to themselves, giving us their long lists of scientific synonyms with little rivalry from the gunners' side of the house. I believe that the following pages will not only make very conspicuous the difficulties in this branch of our nomenclature, but will show to a great extent what can be done in the prem- ises towards elucidation, and materially simplify the confusion of tongues existing among book-makers, pot-hunters, and sports- men. In most cases, where satisfactory identification of species has been arrived at, the names given by early as well as later writers are quoted. When assigning a name to a locality (without further com- ment) I have not meant to imply that no other alias of the species is there used, nor that the name is peculiar to the place ; I nit simply that I happen to know of its use in that quarter. Some may feel that I have been over-particular, or unnecessarily vi INTRODUCTION. explicit in assigning names to individual localities, but I believe that upon a more mature consideration they will thank me for avoiding the temptation to smooth my text by generalizations. I regret that from one cause and another I have not been able to be thus explicit in all cases. The principal reasons for "this multiplication of names are obvious, viz. : differences in size, shape, and color between males and females; periodical changes in plumage; mistaking one variety for another ; and, more particularly, differences of opin- ion as to the names most appropriate. Many of those English names which perhaps we all ought to adopt, such as "Hooded Merganser," "Hudsonian Godwit," "Bartramian Sandpiper," "Pectoral Sandpiper," etc., are used about as little by the inhabitants of the United States generally as the strictly scientific names ; while certain appellations given in our later and best ornithological works, as common among gunners, are quoted from bird-books belonging to a period when popular names were to some extent different from those of to- day. -But, though "Use may revive the obsoletest word, And bauish those that now are most in vogue," our gunners have, as a rule, proved themselves a very conserva- tive class, continuing the bird names of their forefathers persist- ently, despite the teachings and sneers of scientists and book- learned sportsmen. Many of these names, probably, appear now for the first time in print, yet few are of recent origin ; and though some may be a little time-worn, they are time-honored, and as familiar in certain localities as " cow," " dog," and " cat." I would remind any who may think it unwise, or idle, to record provincialisms so simple and apparently unmeaning as some of these, that such a view of the subject is itself a provincialism most unreasonable. Names which appear to us absurdly gro- tesque and outlandish are mediums of communication between men as wise as ourselves, though educated in a different school, and the homely nomenclature of those who shoot, not alone for INTRODUCTION. vji sport, but for their daily bread, should command respect It is just now painfully popular to misrepresent and malign the so- 3d " pot-hunters ;" yet these dear old fellows taught us pretty .uch all we know about hunting, and from them ornithology has gathered its most important contributions. I have tried to describe the species in as simple English as possible, because I think this freedom from technicalities will be grateful to many. Few, even among our most intelligent col- lege-bred sportsmen, can form a very clear idea of a bird's ap- pearance from the " shop-talk " of scientists, even though pro- vided with a glossary ; and it may be broadly stated, with quite a showing of truth, that the descriptions commonly encountered in ornithological works (particularly those of to-day) are only intelligible to those who do not need them. To further avoid obscurity. I will say that the term "young,'' us used in my descriptions, refers not to the downy young or the fledglings, but to those birds which have attained, or nearly attained, adult size, and which differ or not, according to their species and sex, from one or both of the old birds. I will also explain exactly how the measurements "length*' and •• extent" are obtained. To ascertain the first, lay the bird on its back, hold tip of bill even with edge of table with one hand, pull back the legs with your other hand, and note the point reached by end of longest tail-feather. To ascertain " ex- tent," spread the wings fully out (the bird still on its back), holding tip of one wing flush with edge of table (or other start- ing-point), and note point reached by the other wing-tip. This measurement has nothing to do with how far the bird itself spread its wings, but shows how far we can spread them, without interfering in the least with construction or natural possibilities. It may be also well to state here, that the colors of bills and legs given are those of life. In a .short time after death (some- times in a few hours) these colors, particularly those of the bills, change very materially, the brighter hues giving place to a more and more uniform and duskv tint. yiii INTRODUCTION. The illustrations are by Mr. Edwin Sheppard, of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia ; and the scientific titles are those adopted by the American Ornithologists' Union, and pub- lished in its Check List, 1886. I have thought that a book which included those birds only in which gunners and sportsmen are interested — pictures of the different species and plumages, descriptions in plain English, full lists of common names, as well as book-names — would, if decently constructed, be a peculiarly intelligible book of refer- ence for those who go gunning. A good picture is worth more for the purpose of identification than all the descriptions ever written, and a picture in simple black and white is in many cases more useful than a colored one, that is to say, for birds whose plumages are entirely different at different seasons, and whose markings and colors necessarily pass through so many inter- mediate stages. It should be always borne in mind that a bird does not change its plumage as a snake does its skin ; that it is impossible to describe each and every variation, and that it is better to leave a great deal to the intelligence of the reader, than to run the risk of hopelessly confusing him by too much detail. Many will be surprised at the large number of names col- lected, and some will doubtless wonder why I have omitted this or that name very familiar to themselves. I certainly cannot hope to have gathered all the names of any species, but I feel that I have been a little more than ordinarily careful to keep the lists free from error as far as they go. I here thank collectively the Eastern gunners who have helped me with material for this work, particularly those living by the Great Lakes, and along our Atlantic coast, with whom I have spent so much 'time, and formed so many pleasant friend- ships during the past four years. NAMES AND PORTRAITS OF BIRDS. No. 1. Branta canadensis. Head, neck, lull, and legs, black; patch about throat, and feathers above and below tail, white. Upper parts of plumage principally brown, this fading into light gray beneath; brown of rump and tail darker, or blackish. Length a little over three feet ; extent, five feet or more. Range, as given in A. O. U. Check List : " Temperate North America, breeding in the northern United States and British Provinces; south in winter to Mexico." CANADA GOOSE: COMMON WILD GOOSE : BIG GRAY GOOSE: COMMON GRAY GOOSE— Early writers (Hutchins and Hearne) using the latter name for this fowl, but giving that of " Canada Goose" to No. 2, a very similar but smaller bird. Referred to not infrequently as HONKER or OLD HONKER in recognition of its hoarse notes, or "honking." At More- head, North Carolina. REEF GOOSE < Xo. 2 being known there as Marsh Goose) ; and Dresser writes in Birds of Southern Texas, 1865-66: "The shore gunners are well aware of the ditl'eivnee between this [No. 1] and B. /*»//<•/* /'//*//' , No. 2], calling the former the BAY GOOSE, and the latter the Prairie Goose." Early authors tell of its being known at Hudson's Bay as BUSTARD,* and Sir John Richardson, in Fauna Boreal i-Ameri- * The bustard of ornithologists belongs to the ostrich family, the Great Bustard ( Otis tanlt) being the largest land bird of Europe. BIRD NAMES. [No. 1. cana, 1831, speaks of its arrival in the fur countries as " hailed with great joy by the natives of the woody and swampy dis- tricts, who depend principally upon it for subsistence during the summer. . . . One goose, which when fat weighs about nine pounds, is the daily ration for one of the Company's servants during the season, and is reckoned equivalent to two snow- geese, or three ducks, or eight pounds of buffalo and moose meat, or two pounds of pemmican, or a pint of maize and four ounces of suet." No. 1. In appendix to Townsend's Narrative of Journey Across Eocky Mountains, etc., 1839, it is BLACK-HEADED GOOSE; a.nd some writers have termed it CANADA BRANT; and in England it has been called the CRAVAT GOOSE (Buffon's L Oie d cravate). Yarrell speaks of its being entitled to a place in his British Birds, specimens being so frequently shot "which do not exhibit either in their actions or plumage any signs of having escaped from confinement." No. Q. Branta canadensis hntchinsii. A small variety of our common wild goose No. 1, and in ap- pearance (excepting size) like it in all respects. Length about twenty-seven inches ; extent a little over four feet. Not common on, or very near to, our Eastern coast, but numer- ous in the West during migrations. Breeds in Arctic regions. HUTCHINS'S GOOSE: HUTCHINS'S CANADA GOOSE: HUTCH- INS'S BARNACLE GOOSE (the liarnacle Goose proper, lim,,t,i I, tirnji.*!*, "casual in Eastern North America," was named from an early belief that it originated in the shell of a barnacle, or, rather, was the natural fruit of a little crustacean): HUTCHINS'S BRANT: LESSER CANADA GOOSE: SMALL GRAY GOOSE: LITTLE WILD GOOSE. Ilearne writes, referring: to this variety in his Journey to Northern Ocean, published 1T95, "CANADA GOOSE, or PISK A SISH, as it is called by the Indians, as well as the English in Hudson's Bay." and Richardson, in Boat Voyage, 1851, speaks of its being called ESKIMO GOOSE in Rupert's Land. In Audubon's Ornithological Biography, Vol. III., 1835, we find under the heading of Hutchins's Goose, the following: " In the first article in this volume, that of the Canada Goose, ... I had occasion to allude to a small species, called by the gunnel's of Maine the Winter or Flight Goose, which they de- scribed to me as resembling the large and common kind in almost every particular except its size. Although it was not my £ood-fortune while there to meet with the bird spoken of by men who were well acquainted with it, I have no doubt that 4 BIRD XAHES. [No. 2. it is the very species which has been named in honor of Mr. Hutchins." In the " first article," to which Audubon refers, we do not find "Winter Goose," but the other name is introduced as follows : " It is alleged in the state of Maine that a distinct species of Canada Goose resides there, which is said to be much smaller than the one now under your notice, and is described as resembling it in all other particulars. Like the true Canada Goose, it builds a large nest which it lines with its own down ; sometimes it is placed on the sea-shore, at other times by the margin of a fresh-water lake or pond. That species is distin- guished there by the name of Flight Goose, and is said to be entirely migratory, whereas the Canada Goose is resident." Linsley says, in Catalogue of the Birds of Connecticut, 1843 : "A.nser hutckinsii, it is believed, is not unfrequently taken here in the spring, and is called Southern Goose, because it does not winter here." Though this name " Southern Goose " is still re- membered in Connecticut, at Stratford, where Linsley wrote, and at Milford as well, the descriptions of the goose to which it belongs, as given by the different gunners, vary very materially ; they all agree, however, that the name belongs to a variety smaller than the common wild goose, and very rarely, or never, now encountered. As these quotations from Audubon and Linsley are both so worded as to leave at least some little room for doubt concerning the local names included, it seems better to give said names just as they appear in the text, without using a more emphatic type. Giraud writes (1844): "At the eastern extremity of Long Island this species is not uncommon. At Montauk it is known by the name of MUD GOOSE." In an article about common names of wildfowl in Western States (Forest and Stream, May 27, 1886), Mr. J. P. Leach, of Kushville, Illinois, states that the gunners include this with other small geese under the general term "brant," and that this bird is " further distinguished " as GOOSE BRANT In the neighborhood of Morehead, North Carolina, MARSH GOOSE, and on the coast of Texas, PRAIRIE GOOSE. (Compare names of this variety with those of No. 1.) No. 3. Branta bernicla. Head and hill, with neck all around, and extreme fore part of body black ; on either side of neck a group of white scratches, as indicated in picture. The back, with front of wings, brown, the feathers paler at their ends; remainder of wings black, or nearly so. as is the tail; the latter. however, being almost con- ceal, -d by covering of white feathers technically known as tail -diverts." ruder parts <>f plumage grayish brown, the ends of Q BIRD NAMES. [No. 3. the feathers touched with white, this producing transverse bars. Under parts of other specimens, more correctly described as white, shaded beneath black of fore-breast and along the sides with ill-defined bars of light brown ; in all cases becoming pure white back of legs. Length about twenty-four inches ; extent forty-six to forty- eight inches. Legs blackish. Kange, as given in A. O. U. Check List, northern parts of Northern Hemisphere ; in North America chiefly on Atlantic coast ; rare in the interior, or away from salt water. BRANT: BRENT: BRANT GOOSE: BRENT GOOSE: BRAND GOOSE: COMMON BRANT: has been also called BLACK BRANT, though this latter name is generally applied, and more appropri- ately, to Branta nigricans, a similar but darker bird, rare on our Eastern coast. The old names " brant," " brent," etc., refer to the dark color : it is burnt or branded goose. It ranks high for table use, and being exceptionally fine when shot late in spring, the term "May Brant" has long had a momentous meaning among epicures. We read in Yarrell's British Birds that " in Shetland it is called HORRA GOOSE, from the numbers that frequent Horra Sound," and the Kev. Charles Swainson says, in his Provincial Names of British Birds, 1885 : " From the cry of this bird, which is varied, sounding like the different expressions ' prott,' ' rott,' and 'crock,' are derived the names ROTT GOOSE, or RAT GOOSE: ROAD GOOSE, or ROOD GOOSE: CLATTER GOOSE (East Lothian): QUINK GOOSE: CROCKER." Mr. Swainson also mentions Ilorra Goose, and HORIE GOOSE as in use at Shetland Isles, and adds that BARNACLE is "the common name for this species in Ire- land— a name entirely erroneous. But in some parts the true Barnacle Goose (£. leucopsis} and the Brant are distinguished as the Norway Barnacle and the WEXFORD BARNACLE." (See index for other " brant " geese.) No. 4. Snow Geese. Ail nit. White, with end of wing black; foreparts of plu- mage frequently stained with reddish brown, this generally more noticeable on front of head. Bill commonly light purplish red, l>ut variable from a more dusky tone to flesh-color, with black "grinning" recess along its sides. Legs deep purplish red, though also variable. }'«'//"/. rpjier parts bluish gray or lead-color, more or less varied with white; end of wing (or flight-feathers) as in adult. Hill and legs dusky. BIRD NAMES. [No- 4- o Two varieties are recognized by ornithologists, viz. : Lesser Snow Goose, Chen Jiyperborea, and Greater, Chen hyperlorea m- valis, these being practically alike in form and coloration Measurements of smaller bird somewhere about as follows: Length twenty-five inches ; extent fifty-two inches. The larger variety • length twenty-seven to thirty-one inches ; extent fifty- six to sixty-two inches. The two grading towards one another confusingly. Another, and less common plumage is that formerly, or at different times, regarded as belonging to a bird distinct from either of the preceding, and again as representing simply a stage in the development of the Snow Goose dress. Birds thus arrayed have been labelled Chen ccerulescens. This name is placed in the " Hypothetical List " of the new Check List,* as " possibly " representing a separate variety. These birds are of the same shape as the snow geese, and are surely most closely allied to them. Head and upper half of neck white ; remaining plumage principally grayish brown with more or less bluish gray, the feathers ending paler ; edgings of white to back portions of plumage ; tone of lower neck dusky ; wings plain light bluish * Published by the Am. Ornithologists' Union, 1886. No. 4.] BIRD NAMES. . 9 gray with their flight-feathers ("primaries" and "secondaries") black or nearly so ; rump light gray or more whitish ; coloration of bill and legs about as in previously described snow geese.* Names of the whiter birds, as follows : SNOW GOOSE: WHITE BRANT < latter name very general in the West) : WAVBY or COM- MON WAVEY of 1 1 udson's Bay region. J. W. Long, in his Amer- ica n Wild Fowl Shooting, speaks of their being known in the West somewhere as FISH BRANT (an absurdly inappropriate and libellous designation). Colonel J. II. Powel writes me from his home in Newport, II. I. : "I have heard it called MEXICAN QOOSE in this State (I have killed several here)."f Baird, Brewer, and Kidjrway record RED GOOSE as in use on the Jersey coast (a name mentioned also in Wilson, 1814), suggested I suppose by color of bill and legs, and the reddish stains. These birds visit the Delaware regularly, many of them congregating near Bay Side. ( umberland Co., N. J., the species being there known as TEXAS GOOSE. Names of Cfnn r.irntescens, as follows: BLUE GOOSE: BLUE SNOW GOOSE: BLUE WAVEY: BLUE -WINGED GOOSE: WHITE-HEADED GOOSE or WHITE-HEAD: BALD-HEADED BRANT or BALD BRANT. Though snow geese are rare in most of our Eastern States, they are exceedingly common in many parts of the West, col- lectini: in countless numbers on the prairies, or transforming river sandbars into islands of glistening snow. They decoy less readily than the Canadian and Hutchins's geese, and fly much higher while passing to and from their feeding-grounds. * Since writing the above, I have lx?come thoroughly convinced that C. eafruletcens is n species by itM-lf. distinct from the other geese herein described. + In Howard us's Field, Cover, and Trap Shooting, edited by Charles J. Foster. \\r rr:id of thi-sr birds, \\ith species Nos. 2 and 5, being known as " Mi-v.r.iii •_'' MC " in portions of the West, this terra distinguishing them collectively from the "common wild goose," No. 1. No. 5. Anser albifrons gambeli. Adult. Upper parts principally warm grayish brown, the broad ends of the feathers narrowly edged with brownish white, the pale edgings turned to pure white on tail and certain feath- ers of the wings ; the head and upper neck of closer mixture, or nearly plain brown ; extreme front of head (next to bill) white, this white intensified by the brown just back of it, which is of a deeper tint, or blackish. Breast, in high state of plu- No. 5. Adult. No. 5.] BIRD NAMES. 11 mage, blackish brown broken only by a few pale or white edgings t<» tlif feathers, but, as more often seen, a blotchy mixture of I >lack and white; the feathers of rump, and those beneath tail, pure white. Color of bill varying with different specimens, from Mesh color and yellowish, to darker and more reddish tint; the nail at end white or nearly so. Legs and feet orange, the webs lighter, and claws white. }'<«//"/. Front of head deep brown instead of white. No black on breast. Bill dull in tone, with nail at end blackish. No. 6. Young. I.rn.irth twenty-seven inches; extent sixty inches. Its range, as given in A. O. U. Check List, is " North Amer- ica, breeding far northward; in winter south to Mexico and Cuba." Though a familiar species to a majority of Western gunners, it is one which we in the East know but very little about. WHITE -FRONTED GOOSE, or AMERICAN WHITE - FRONTED GOOSE (the latter distinguishing it from European variety < 1 a* / ,,/f.ifron*): LAUGHING GOOSE: HARLEQUIN BRANT: PIED ]2 BIRD NAMES. [No. 5. BRANT. Known in various parts of the West as PRAIRIE BRANT, SPECKLED BELLY, and SPECKLED BRANT, and very commonly as BRANT simply, this being, in other words, the brant where hunters are unfamiliar with Eastern bird, Branta bernicla (No. 3.), or with Pacific coast variety, B. nigricans. In a letter from Mr. A. B. Pearson, of San Diego, Cal., this species is referred to as the "YELLOW-LEGGED GOOSE or GRAY BRANT," and spoken of as " fairly plentiful" there "from [Novem- ber to March." No. 6. Anas boschas. A'? »lt imil'- 'in "full" plumage). Head and upper neck brilliant green, with white ring just below; remainder of neck with fore-breast chestnut or chocolate brown. Upper parts of body brown and gray; around tail deep black with greenish No. 6. Adult Male. gloss; a tuft of these black feathers turning forward above tail into a little curl. Sides of body white, waved with dusky lines; belly similar, but more grayish white, and very minutely waved. Wings brownish gray with iridescent mark, or "spec- BIRD NAMES. [No. 6. ulum," of purplish blue bordered with white and black. Bill greenish yellow ; legs reddish orange. ' Size very variable, about two feet in length, and three feet or more in extent. (One old drake now before me spreads nearly forty inches.) Female. A little smaller than male, with similar wings and feet ; bill blotchily marked blackish and orange. General plu- mage of upper parts dusky brown variegated with light brown or dead-grass color, this latter tint paling to whitish here and there ; markings about head and neck fine and streaky ; crown No. 6. Female. of head dark ; throat plain buff ; under surface of body varying with different specimens from buff to grayish or soiled white, and spotted with dusky brown. This is the original of our most common domesticated duck. Though usually shy and suspicious, I have found them feeding with farm-yard cousins in close proximity to barns and dwell- ing-houses. They are peculiarly ready (male and female) to mate with ducks of other species, and hybrids from these con- nections are not rare. The offspring of Mallard (No. 6) and Dusky -duck (No. 7) are raised in large numbers at Bellport, No. 6.] BIRD NAMES. 15 Long Island, by Capt. R. L. Petty, and other old baymen. The cross was originally obtained from eggs found on a neighboring marsh, and hatched under a hen. The birds differ greatly in color, the mixed parentage showing itself in numerous combi- nations. The female is astonishingly savage during incubation, flying at one's boot like a mad dog. Though Mallards visit a few localities in New England quite regularly (viz., Middleborough Ponds, Mass., vicinity about mouth of Connecticut River, . I'.ivast tan brown, streakily marked with pale buff; sides also brown, with spots of dull white. Legs yellowish brown. Length eighteen to nineteen inches ; extent twenty-eight to twenty-nine inches. " Temperate North America, breeding throughout its range " (A. O.U. Check List). 3 34. BIRD NAMES. [No. 12. WOOD DUCK (see No. 22): SUMMER DUCK: widely known by one or both of these titles, and commonly conceded to be the most beautiful of our water-fowl. It may be added that as a table bird it stands also very high. At East Haddam, Conn., it is the WIDGEON.* "A good many here call it Wood Duck," said a local gunner, " because it builds its nest in trees, but most of us know that its real name is Widgeon." Farther down the Connecticut River, we hear WOOD WIDGEON: "Always called it so," said an Essex ducker, "until Clark told us its right name." Mr. John K Clark, of Saybrook, near by, being the authority referred to. At Pocomoke City (Worcester Co.), Maryland, and in the vicinity of Charleston, S. C., ACORN DUCK. Mentioned in Bel- knap's History of New Hampshire, 1784, as CRESTED WOOD DUCK: and Latham writes. Synopsis, 1785 : " By some called TREE DUCK (see No. 22). Our " Tree-ducks " proper, met with along southwestern border of the United States and southward, be- long to the genus Dendrocygna. * See our Widgeon of the books, No. 8 ; also Nos. 9, 13, 17, 31. No. 13. Dafila acuta. Adult male. Head and upper neck rich brown with copper- red reflections ; portions of hind neck black ; lower hind neck, front of back, and sides of body evenly waved with dusky gray and white ; much of wing plain gray and grayish brown ; wing- No 13. Adult Mala. mark, or speculum, green, changing to copper -red, and edged with white, cinnamon, and black ; the tapering feathers starting at inner framework of wing, and sweeping along the lower back, are black centrally, with broad gray, white, or brownish margins. 36 BIRD NAMES. [No. 13. Tail gray, with black about its roots, its elongated central feath- ers black,' or nearly so. Front of neck, and under parts gener- ally, white, tinged more or less with yellowish or rusty stain ; the white of neck branching into the dark color above, as shown in picture. Bill -black, turning to bluish gray along its sides. Legs and feet bluish gray. Measurements about as follows : length twenty-nine inches (but governed, of course, greatly by variable development of central tail-feathers); extent thirty -six inches; bill, measured along top (from feathering at base) two to two and three- sixteenth inches, and narrow, with sides nearly parallel. No. 13. Female. Adult female. Plumage very different from full -dressed drake : a quietly clothed " gray duck." Central feathers of tail projecting but slightly beyond those next them. Upper plu- mage principally dark grayish brown, variegated with cream color, the latter tint deepening here and there into tan, or paling into white ; variegations closer about lower neck ; throat pale buff ; remainder of neck (all around) and most of head marked with dusky streaks and dots upon a buff or pale-brown ground ; top of head darker ; iridescence of speculum very imperfect, No. 13.] BIRD NAMES. 37 often scarcely discernible. Under parts of plumage pale buff, or dull white, with obscure spots or freckles. Bill uniformly dusky. Legs and feet bluish gray. Length twenty-two and a half to twenty-three inches: ex- tent nearly that of drake. Young (both sexes). Closely resembling adult female. " Northern Hemisphere. In North America breeds from the northern parts of the United States northward, and migrates south to Cuba and Panama" (A. O. U. Check List). I have heard no local name applied from Calais, Me., to Bath, though between these points I have interviewed many duckers. The bird is certainly not common enough here to require often a name of any kind, and it may be added that nowhere upon our coast is the species so numerous as in the interior. From Bath to the State of Connecticut the name GRAY DUCK (see Nos. 6, 9) is usually given it (I find that I have thus lumped the matter in notes relating to this portion of the coast), but no other name has troubled me so much as this one. It can be ap- propriately applied to many species, and is too comprehensive, too adaptable a title to remain as unwaveringly attached to a single species as do duck-names usually. It is very liable to be brought into play when a grayish duck of any kind is shot that the gunners are unfamiliar with. Though I have met the name in a large majority of the places visited, I have only been able to record its exact local use in a comparatively few instances. Referring to its general application in New England to the present species, Mr. Brewster writes (Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, July, 1883) : " Much confusion has been caused by the assumption that the Gray Duck (i.e., Gad wall) of the books is the same wit h the ' Gray Duck ' of New England gunners and sportsmen." I have heard this name popularly applied to the species now in hand, on the Niagara (see No. 6) ; in Connecticut, at Essex, Mil- ford, and Stratford ; at Bellport, Long Island ; Washington, D. C. ; and Alexandria, Va. ; and very commonly in these localities, as elsewhere, to designate only the females, and the males in gray attire, (iiraud says, in his Birds of Long Island, 1844, referring 3* gg BIRD NAMES. [No. 13. to this fowl : " The young and females are mistaken by many persons for a distinct species, which they call Gray Duck." Some of the duckers of Seaford (Hempstead), Long Island, include full-plumaged drake under above title, while others dis- tinguish the latter as PIED GRAY DUCK (see note to No. 23, concerning use of " pied " on Long Island). In Philadelphia, Baltimore, and St. Augustine, these young birds and females are also called Gray Duck, and in the latter locality GRAY WIDGEON (see No. 9) ; latter name likewise used more or less at Essex, Conn., where the species goes by the name of SEA WIDGEON as well. Also known (including or not the gray birds) on the Ni- agara ; about Lake St. Clair ; in Massachusetts at Salem, North Scituate, North Plymouth, and West Barnstable, as PIN-TAIL (see No. 31), and at Salem and West Barnstable as SPLIT- TAIL. At Buzzard's Bay, Mass.; in Connecticut, at Essex and Stratford; in New Jersey, at Barnegat, Tuckerton, Pleasant- ville (Atlantic Co.), and Atlantic City; at Baltimore, Wash- ington, Alexandria, Norfolk, and at Morehead, N. C., SPRIG - TAIL ; this being sometimes shortened to SPRIG. At Chicago, SPIKE -TAIL, and less commonly PIKE -TAIL; at Milford, Conn., PICKET -TAIL; this being probably the original form of a Long Island name, which I find spelled " Picketail " in my note book, and which Giraud gives as " Picitail " in the index to his Birds of Long Island. Several old duckers conversed with at Shinne- cock Bay, Moriches, Bellport, etc., consider this a corruption of peaked-tail, but I imagine they are a little off the track. To the older gunners about Milford, this is the PHEASANT DUCK or PHEASANT; and similar names by which the species has been known are SEA PHEASANT and WATER PHEASANT. For other water-fowl to which the name "pheasant" is applied, see Nos. 20, 21, 22. In New Jersey, at Manasquan (Monmouth Co.), SMEE; at Tuckerton, SMEES; while others at Tuckerton refer to it as SMETHE. Though these are doubtless forms of one and the same name, I have thought best to make no choice between them, but to give the three equal prominence. The species has No. 13.] BIRD NAMES. 39 been so termed, it appears, for a very long time. " Most of us," said a venerable hunter, " call it Sprig-tail, but I suppose its real name is Smees." Josselyn, in his Voyages to New England, published 1674, mentions "Smethes" among other of our birds, but to what species he referred we can only guess. It is inter- esting also to recall the fact that the Smew or White Nun, Mergus atbdlu* (no longer included in our fauna), has been called both " Smee" and " Smeath." At Pleasant ville and Atlantic City we hear LONG -NECK, and at Charleston and Savannah SPRIG -TAILED WIDGEON; while in Charleston markets and to some of the local gunners it is the WIDGEON simply. (See our Widgeon of the books, No. 8 ; also Nos. 9, 12, 17, 31.) At St. Augustine the full -feathered drake is the KITE -TAILED WIDGEON. Other aliases gathered from various sources, but that I do not remember having heard in common use, are WINTER DUCK (Nuttall— See No. 25); CRACKER (Fleming's British Animals); 8PREET-TAIL, PILE -START (both in Giraud's Birds of Long Island); PIGEON-TAIL (Herbert's Field Sports); SHARP-TAIL (I hillock's Gazetteer, and Long's American Wild Fowl Shoot- ing); SPINDLE -TAIL (Water Birds of North America). And Rev. Chas. Swainson, in Provincial Names of British Birds, 1885, gives "LADY BIRD (Dublin Bay)," and "HARLAN (Wex- ford)," recording also a name previously mentioned, as follows : "Sea Pheasant (Hants; Dorset)." No. 14. Spatula clypeata. Adult male. Head and upper neck of a very dark greenish tone, with purple reflections ; lower neck and breast white ; belly and flanks rich chestnut brown ; front part of wings conspicu- ously blue, of light shade, but vivid; back of this blue, a green wing-mark, or speculum, bordered with white and black; feath- ers striped with white, sweeping backward from inner region of wings; back dusky brown; rump, and above and below tail, black with greenish gloss ; at either side of tail a white patch. Audubon wrote : " We have no duck in the United States whose plumage is more changeable than that of the male of this beautiful species." The species can nevertheless be quickly No. 14.] BIRD NAMES. 41 recognized in any plumage by its broad, soft, and yielding bill, twice as wide at its rounded end as at its base, with fringe of fine tooth-like processes exposing themselves on either side. I have never had the good-fortune to kill a drake in above splendid attire, and have taken my description mainly from three stuffed specimens shot near Savannah, Ga. The bills of these are black, but the colors of bills and legs before death I can only determine through the testimony of others. According to sev- eral ornithological works, the bills (accompanying this or similar plumage) are black, or nearly so; the legs reddish orange, or vermilion. Mali. Female. I have shot many of this species in the late fall and early winter in Southern and Western States, but they were either dr;il«'s in imperfect plumage, or birds in female apparel. This latter dress is a simple mixture of warm brown and light buff, lim- and streaky on head and upper neck; the throat plain buff. Lower neck (all around) and general upper plumage brown, the tV:i there edged with light buff which pales to white on broader feathers growing from shoulder regions, or inner region of wings; the feathers covering sides of body marked in nearly like manner. Forward portion of wings brownish, with light 49 BIRD NAMES. [No. 14. markings near front edge (no blue) ; speculum greenish, bor- dered before and very narrowly behind with white, and often very dull, with little or no lustre. Lower surface of body vary- ing from buff to nearly pure white, mottled about vent and be- neath tail with warm brown. Length about twenty inches ; extent thirty inches or more. Bill, as I have commonly observed it on freshly killed birds, but as I have never seen it described : upper division (or upper mandible) olive brown, with bright orange edge, the surface dotted with black as though fly-specked ; lower division bright orange ;* these colors changing rapidly after death. Many imperfectly plumaged drakes that I have seen have dark head and neck, finely speckled with white; snowy white and dark markings about breast and back ; front of wing blue to greater or less degree, and dull brownish leather color on belly. I have always found this duck fine eating. Audubon says : " The sportsman who is a judge will never pass a Shoveller to shoot a Canvas-back." Eange, "Northern Hemisphere. In North America breed- ing from Alaska to Texas " (A. O. U. Check List). SHOVELLER: BLUE-WING SHOVELLER (Catesby's Nat. Hist, of Carolina, etc.) : RED-BREASTED SHOVELLER (Pennant's Brit- ish Zoology). Along the coast from New Brunswick to Connecticut this species is too rare to bear a well-established name among gun- ners. It is known at Lake St. Clair; the Detroit River; Chi- cago ; Long Island ; in New Jersey at Red Bank (Monmouth Co.), Barnegat, Atlantic City, and Sommers Point; in Mary- land at Havre de Grace and Baltimore ; in Virginia at Alex- * Catesby, 1731, describes bill as "reddish brown, spotted with black" (his specimen being in brown plumage, with front of wing blue); and in Water Birds of North America (Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway), bill colors of adult female are thus described : " bill brown, mandible orange ;" but no mention is made of the black dots. No. 14.] BIRD NAMES. 43 andria and Norfolk ; at Morehead, N. C., and Savannah, Ga., as SPOON-BILL* (see No. 31). At Tuckerton, N. J., and Crisfield, Md., it is the SHOVEL- BILL, and in Putnam County, Illinois, the BROADY. The name BROAD-BILL, given in Yarrell's British Birds, Coues's Key, etc., though eminently appropriate, seems to have been very thoroughly taken up in our country by other species. Another name at Norfolk, and one which has rapidly grown into favor, is BUTLER DUCK, the bird being so called because of its spoon-like bill, and with reference to a well-known general in the civil war. J. W. Long also records this name in his descrip- tions of wildfowl shooting in the West. Another odd title, of much less recent origin, encountered at Morehead, N. C., is COW-FROG. Though no one attempts to give a reason for the term, the oldest inhabitants tell of hearing it in use from early childhood. Though known at Savannah, as previously stated, as the Spoon-bill, I have heard it oftener referred to there, and at St. Augustine, as SPOON-BILLED WIDGEON; and it is commonly called in the markets, and by the market-gunners of Savannah, the SPOON-BILLED TEAL. This termination " teal," though a peculiarly marketable one, is not applied in this case from mer- cenary motives alone, as many of the resident sportsmen as well as market gunners believe in two varieties of Spoon-bill; the Spoon - billed Widgeon being the larger, and having "darker bill and legs." The only time I remember to have heard the name Shoveller in actual use among gunners (and this, according to scholarly usage, is its correct name) was at Baltimore. The bird is known however as the MUD-SHOVELLER at Sanford, Fla. In Lawson's New Voyage to Carolina, 1709, we read about the SWADDLE-BILL as follows : " A sort of an ash-colored duck, which have an extraordinary broad bill, and are good meat; * Our Roseate Spoonbill, allied to the herons, and known to ornithologists by the weird and double-barrelled title Ajoja ojaja, will not, it is hoped, get mixed in the mind of any one with the duck kind. 44 BIRD NAMES. [No. 14. they are not common as the others are." As Pennant remarks in his Arctic Zoology, 1785, referring to the above (but without naming Lawson) : " We must therefore join it, for the present, to this species." In Swainson's Provincial Names of British Birds, 1885, we find SHOVELARD (Norfolk); MAIDEN DUCK (Wexford); SHEL- DRAKE and WHINYARD (Waterford) ; "whinyard" being "the name for a knife like the Shoveller's bill in shape." Mr. Swain- son also states that the name Whinyard is given in Wexford to the European Pochard Fuligula ferina. No. 15. Aythya vallisneria. Adult Malt. Head and greater part of neck brownish red or mahogany color ; top of head and about bill of deeper tint, or blackish; reddish tone extending farther down neck than in species No. 16 (sometimes confounded with No. 15), and ap- proaching less nearly a true red ; remainder of neck, fore part of body, and rump blackish brown ; wings principally gray. Back, shoulder-feathers, sides, and about vent white, delicately dotted and lined in wavy pattern with dusky gray ("wrapt in pencilled snow ") ; front of wings with wavy markings in similar fashion. Under parts of body, not previously described, pure BIRD NAMES. white. Bill high at base, greenish black throughout ; its length from corner of mouth two and a half to two and three-quarter inches, and greatest width about thirteen sixteenths of an inch. Legs bluish gray. Female. Head, neck, and fore part of body dull brownish buff or brownish tan ; wings nearly plain grayish brown ; upper parts of body, with sides, and rump all around grayish brown minutely sprinkled with wavy dull white. Belly white, tinged here and there with yellowish and grayish tints. Bill and legs as in male. Length twenty-one to twenty-two and three-quarter inches : extent thirty-three and a half to thirty-six inches or a little more. Another way of distinguishing it from No. 16 is by the rather flat manner in which the forehead continues the upper line of the bill ; the forehead of No. 16 being more arched and intellectual-looking. In many waters of the West, this bird, whose range is sup- posed to include the greater part of the country,* is found in * "Breeds from the northern tier of states northward, in the Rocky Moun- No. 15.] BIRD NAMES. 47 goodly numbers, but it is not a common species anywhere near our Eastern coast north of Delaware ; and in New England it is rare. A friend who has spent much time at Norfolk, Va., informs me that a majority of the Norfolk epicures consider this bird better eating when it first arrives from the North than it is at any other time. This is antagonistic with the popular belief that the " wild celery " of the Chesapeake region does so much to improve the bird's flavor. Wilson, who first described this species (scientifically), tells us (1814) of its being called CANVAS-BACK on the Susquehanna, WHITE-BACK on the Potomac, and SHELDRAKE (see Nos. 20, •J 1 . -1-1} on the James. Jefferson, in his Notes on Virginia (ed. 1788), mentions "Sheldrach, or Canvas-back;" and the name •• White-back" is still a familiar one to duckers on the Potomac, at least to those about Washington and Alexandria. Wilson tells us also of a wheat-laden vessel wrecked near Great Egg Harbor, N. J., and how the floating grain attracted vast numbers of these birds, which, being unknown to the local gunners, were denominated " sea-duck " simply ; and Ord adds, in his reprint of Wilson, that in the neighborhood of Phila- delphia hunters were in the habit of supplying the market with this duck, under the name of "Red-head," or "Red-neck" (see No. 16), and that " their ignorance of its being the true Canvas- l>ack was cunningly fostered by our neighbors of the Chesa- peake, who boldly asserted that only their waters were favored with this species." Audubon speaks of Southern epicures send- ing to Baltimore for Canvas-back, not knowing that they could be obtained near home. " I well remember," he writes, " that on my jointing out to a friend, now alas, dead, several dozens of these birds in the market of Savannah, he would scarcely believe that I was not mistaken, and assured me that they were looked upon as poor, dry and fishy." But now, this " over-rated and tains further south, and in upper California; winters in the United States, and southward to Guatemala." — Couct. 48 S1RD NAMES. [No. 15. generally under-done bird," as Dr. Coues nicely puts it, is recog- nized as the "Canvas-back" almost everywhere. It may be added that in ducking parlance the abbreviation CAN is some- times used ; I should not emphasize this fact had not the abbre- viation crept into print occasionally as a distinct name, without apology or explanation. Known to many gunners about Morehead, N C., and on New River, Onslow Co., same state, as BULL-NECK (see No. 31), and in last-named locality, as EED -HEADED BULL-NECK No. 16. Aythya americana. Adult male. Head and upper neck mahogany colored ; head large with full puffy feathering ; remainder of neck, fore breast, and around on extreme forward part of back continuously black or blackish. Plumage of back and sides finely zigzagged with dull white and slaty black; the lower back and tail grayish brown; and immediately about tail blackish. "Wings princi- pally two shades of bluish gray, their under surfaces grayish and white. Under surface of body white, shading darker with brownish gray towards tail. Bill pale blue (in life) with black end ; length of bill, measured along edge from corner of mouth, 4 50 BIRD NAMES. [No. 16. two to two and a quarter inches; its greatest width thirteen sixteenths to fourteen sixteenths of an inch. Legs bluish gray. Female. Bill similar to drake's, but darker m color; head and upper neck drab or grayish brown; immediately about bill and throat lighter grayish buff. Lower regions of neck, upper parts of body, and the sides brown and slaty brown ; edges of the feathers paler, the pale edging more noticeable about lower neck region and sides. No zigzag markings anywhere (or with barest suggestion of them). Wing much as in male. Under parts white, shading darker and brownish gray behind. Legs as in male. Length twenty to twenty-one inches: extent about thirty- three inches. Kange, North America in general, breeding from Maine and California northward. RED-HEAD, or RED-HEADED DUCK: very generally known as such in the books, and by gunners. It has been also called the POCHARD from its resemblance to European Pochard (with which it was at one time considered identical), and more cor- rectly the AMERICAN POCHARD. No. 16.] BIRD NAMES. 51 At Seaford (Hempstead), L. I., it is the RED-HEADED BROAD- BILL. Upon the coast north of Long Island this species, though occasionally killed, is certainly far from a familiar sight to gunners. From Pamlico Sound to South Carolina commonly known as the RED-HEADED RAFT-DUCK. In King's Sportsman and Naturalist in Canada, 1866, called GRAY-BACK (see No. 17) ; and in Schoolcraft, 1820, and Tan- ner's Narrative, 1830, PALL DUCK. Another name, too interesting to be omitted, is found in Avifauna Columbiana (Coues and Prentiss, 1883), i. eing an English- French combination, meaning sea " saw-bill "). In a Notice of the Ducks and Shooting of the Chesapeake, by Dr. J. T. Sharpless, Cabinet of Nat. Hist., Vol. III., 1833, the present species is referred to as HAIRY-CROWN, a name remind- ing us of that similar one, Hairy-head, belonging to Hooded Mer- ganser, No. 22. De Kay, in New York Zoology, 1844, mentions "Whistler" among other names, as given to this species in New York State. He elsewhere records the title as applied in same state to the Hooded Merganser. I do not feel like giving special emphasis to these applications of a term so commonly used, then as now, for the Golden-eye, No. 23. We find the following in Rev. Charles Swainson's Provincial Xames of British Birds, 1885 : SAWNEB (Aberdeen) : SAWBILL WIDOEON (Gal way) : HERALD (Shetland Isles) : HERALD DUCK (Forfar and Shetland Isles) : HARLE or HARLE DUCK (Orkney Isles): EARL DUCK (East Lothian): LAND HARLAN (Wexford): BARDRAKE (Down), "from the brown and ash colored streak on the rump;" this name being mentioned elsewhere by the author as applied in Ireland to Tadorna comuta, the common Sheldrake of the Old Country: SCALE DUCK (Strangford 70 BIRD NAMES. [No. 21. Lough): GRAY DIVER (Islay) "applied to the female:" POP- PING WIDGEON (Drogheda Bay); and Mr. Swainson tells of this latter name being used in same locality (" Drogheda Bay ") for the European Golden-eye, "as it pops down and up so suddenly." NO. 22. Lophodytes cncullatus. Adult male. Bill nearly black, shorter than in preceding mergansers, and differing slightly in other respects, yet, never- theless, a *' saw-bill." Crest black in front, and white behind with black bordering. Head, neck, and much of upper plumage .s^.;t-3*te^^ »•*.-• I tU^L SA<3L^vvaje/u black, with some brown, and occasional greenish reflections; loose black feathers striped with white, growing from elbow region, and seeming (while wings are closed) to belong rather to the plumage of the lower back ; wing-mark, or speculum, white, -2 BIRD NAMES. [No. 22. with black bars. Sides of body cinnamon brown, finely waved with dark lines;, breast and belly white, the white of breast and black of upper parts sweeping into each other, and forming crescent-like bars in front of wings. Legs yellow brown. Eyes yellow. Female. A little smaller than male. Upper parts brownish, with no pure black; crest rusty brown, with no white, and No. 22. Female. smaller than drake's ; front of breast grayish, and without the crescent bars ; throat and under parts white or nearly so. Bill blackish above and orange below (similar in shape to that of male). Young. Practically like adult female. Length seventeen to eighteen inches ; extent about twenty- five inches. These birds are very partial to fresh water, and when near the sea are met with usually in small rivers, creeks, and ponds. They are peculiarly sportive and agile, and easily decoved by anything resembling a duck. The beautiful fan-like crest is lifted or lowered at will. Range, North America in general ; breeding here and there throughout the United States and northward. No. 22.] BIRD NAMES. 73 HOODED MERGANSER: HOODED SHELDRAKE: ROUND-CREST- ED DUCK (Catesby's Nat. Hist. Carolina, Fla., etc., 1731) : PAN- CRESTED DUCK (Barton's Fragments Nat. Hist., Penn., 1799). At Bath,Me.,PICKAXE SHELDRAKE (the bill being the pointed end of the pickaxe, I suppose; the crest, its wide transverse edge) : known also at Bath, to some of the gunners, and at Essex, Conn, as POND SHELDRAKE (see No. 20) : and Mr. Everett Smith states in his Birds of Maine,* that it is " locally known as the LITTLE SHELDRAKE." At Stonington, Conn., WOOD SHELDRAKE; at Essex, same state, SUMMER SHELDRAKE. Neither this name Summer Shel- drake, nor that of Pond Sheldrake is often required here, as the bird is but infrequently found, and it may be added that this is not a common species along our coast north of New Jersey, though met with sometimes in fair numbers. On Long Island at Shinnecock Bay, Moriches, and Bellport, SWAMP SHELDRAKE (see No. 20). On the Niagara River, Lake St. Clair, and about Chicago, LITTLE SAW-BILL and FISH-DUCK; the latter name being com- mon also in Putnam Co., 111. (See No. 21 for this last name, and Fisherman, Fishing-duck, Saw-bill, and Gar-bill, as sometimes indiscriminately applied to mergansers in general ; a loose style of expression, however, that belongs more to " sportsmen " and the like than to " gunners.") It is worthy of note that in the neighborhood of Niagara Falls the book-name, Hooded Merganser, is met with in common use. Just think of it! a live gunner with that name on his lips. In Connecticut at Milford and Stratford, SAW-BILL DIVER. I am here reminded of how easily names get twisted. I have seen this one conspicuously printed "Swan-bill Diver," and an old gunner at Stratford always refers to the bird as " Saw-mill Diver ;" the last being not so bad, as the bird is so frequently encountered in and about mill-ponds. On Long Island at Seaford (Hempstead), SAW-BILL simply ; * Forett and Stream, 1883-83. 74. BIRD NAMES. [No. 22. a name distinguishing it here from other mergansers, but, as elsewhere stated, sometimes loosely employed to designate the three (Nos. 20, 21, 22) collectively. In Abbott's catalogue of New Jersey birds, 1868, we read of the present species being " generally known inland " as POND SAW-BILL. At Detroit, SPIKE-BILL. Nowhere in western localities men- tioned have I heard the name " sheldrake " applied to it. At Newport, R. I., SMEW. The Hooded Merganser is about the size of the true Smew, Mergus albellus, and the drake of the latter species, when his crest is erected, looks considerably like our bird ; very much as our bird might look in a state of partial albinism. The Smew proper is no longer included in our fauna, and it is doubtful if it ever should have been. Though Wilson tells us that it was " frequently observed " in his time " in the ponds of New England," etc. At Manasquan, N. J., WATER-PHEASANT; at Morehead, N. C., PHEASANT DUCK, and more commonly PHEASANT* simply. Lawson writes, in his New Voyage to Carolina, 1709 : " The water-pheasant (very improperly called so) are a water- fowl of the duck kind, having a topping of pretty feathers which sets them out." (For other water-fowl to which " pheasant " is attached, see Nos. 13, 20, 21.) In New Jersey at Barnegat, Tuckerton, Pleasantville (At- lantic Co.), Atlantic City, and Somers Point, COCK-ROBIN, and less commonly COCK-ROBIN DUCK; at Somers Point, Cape May C. H., and Cape May City, and at Eastville, Va., Wilmington, N. C., and St. Augustine, Fla., HAIRY-HEAD. At Crisfield, Md. (east shore of Chesapeake), SNOWL ; a name as weird as some of those in Alice's Wonderland, and the only one by which the bird is known, so far, at least, as I could dis- cover in 1885. To the darkies of Charleston, S. C., and its vicinity, MOSS- * The Ruffed Grouse, No. 41, generally known by this name in the South, is not met with in this section, and when referred to is termed "Mountain Pheasant." No. 22.] BIRD NAMES. 75 HEAD. The colored women often use a large bunch of " Florida Moss," Tittandtia vmeoidee, as a cushion for the heavy loads thev carry upon their heads, and I am inclined to believe that " Moss-head " was suggested by this practice, rather than by any direct resemblance to moss in the bird's crest. I find also in my memorandum- book the name TOW-HEAD for this species, but, unfortunately, with no note of locality ac- companying it. I remember distinctly, however, that the name was heard in one of our Southern States. Another name (than that of " Hairy-head") commonly heard among the "crackers" of St. Augustine is TADPOLE; the bird having been thought particularly fond of polliwogs, I suppose. While examining specimens in the Smithsonian (Washington, D. C.), I was surprised to find the name WOOD-DUCK (see No. 12) printed on this bird's label. But Mr. Ridgway told me that he had heard " Wood-duck," and also TREE-DUCK (again see No. 12) commonly applied to this species, in lower or more southern portions of the Wabash valley, 111. and Ind. The application of " Wood-duck " to a " Saw-bill," though a little shocking at first, is natural enough, of course, as the Merganser breeds in woods, nesting in the hollow of a tree like the u Wood-duck " of people generally ; and Mr. George A. Boardman, of Calais, Me., once witnessed a lively and long-continued fight between a bird of the latter species and a Hooded Merganser for the possession of a hole in a tree to which both laid claim. I have previously quoted Captain Petty, for the Red-breasted Merganser. The captain adds that the present species is known to all about Mobile, as BEC-SCIE ; this (the French for " Saw- bill ") distinguishing it from the Sea Bec-scie, No. 21. No. 23. Grlaucionetta clangula americana. Adult male. Head and upper neck black (or of very deep tone); richly glossed with green ; a roundish spot of white be- tween bill and eye. Eemainder of neck, with lower parts of body, pure white excepting a few brownish gray mottlings about vent and sides of belly. Back, wings, and tail practi- No. 23. Adult Male. cally black (here and there blackish-brown), with white mark- ings as shown or sufficiently indicated in picture. Bill black or nearly so ; eyes bright yellow ; legs and toes yellow or orange, with dusky webs. Female. Considerably smaller than male ; head plain brown ; neck m front and at sides white faintly touched with gray ; be- No. 23.] BIRD NAMES. 77- hind brownish gray. Lower part of neck, with fore-breast, and upper parts generally, gray, the feathers pale at edges ; wings darker, with white markings as indicated in picture. Under parts white, the color of upper plumage continued down about No. 23. Female. the legs and behind them. Eyes as in male. Bill dull yellow- ish, or yellowish olive, shaded unevenly with blackish brown. I^gs and toes dull yellow with dusky shading, the webs chiefly black. Length seventeen to twenty inches ; extent twenty-seven to thirty-one inches. A duck more or less common in winter throughout the country, making its appearance, as Giraud says, "about the same time that a majority of its tribe are compelled to quit the 'great nursery' at the North for our more temperate climate." AMERICAN GOLDEN-EYE: COMMON GOLDEN-EYE. As the first name marks this bird as different from European variety, Yg BIRD NAMES. [No. 23. so the second distinguishes it from Barrow's Golden-eye,* a species of our own which is not " common," to Eastern gunners at least. MORRILLON (Arctic Zoology, 1785) : GARROT, another Old World title early applied to our bird: CONJURING -DUCK: SPIRIT-DUCK. Kichardson, 1831, speaks of these last two names as given in the fur countries to both this species and No. 24, be- cause of their instantaneous disappearance " at the flash of a gun or the twang of a bow." " Sometimes called by our gunners the BRASS-EYED WHIST- LER" (Nuttall's Water Birds, Boston, 1834). BRASS-EYE, men- tioned by DeKay, Zoology of New York, 1844. From Eastport, Me., to Falmouth, Mass., on the Niagara Eiver, at Chicago, along the Connecticut coast, and at Shinne- cock Bay, L. I., WHISTLER. At Milford, Conn., and Shinnecock, the adult drake, though recognized by all as of the same species with the rest, is com- monly referred to as the " pied Whistler."f At Niagara Falls, Chicago, Newport, R. I., and Alexandria, Va., WHISTLE-WING; at Cape May C. II., N. J., WHISTLE DUCK; and we find this latter form in Beesley's Birds of Cape May, 1857. Another and very pretty name, heard at Lyme, Conn., but almost exclusively among the old people, is MERRY- WING. A disagreement, however, exists concerning its use, whether it right- fully belongs to this fowl or the following, No. 24. Having ob- tained equally reliable testimony on both sides I record the name in both lists. * The Barrow's Golden-eye, or Eocky Mountain Garret, is very similar in general appearance to the present species, but the adult drake has the white patch between the bill and eye crescent-shaped, and the species are in other ways distinguishable. t The word "pied" is peculiarly popular on Long Island, where the gun- ners prefix it to local names to designate the " full dressed " male of any species whose plumage is pied or showily variegated, and when I asked, an old ducker if he did not think the present species particularly handsome, he said, "Yes, the pied ones are very handsome." No. 23.] BIRD NAMES. 79 At Plymouth, Mass., though " Whistler " is the more com- mon appellation, we occasionally hear that of GOLDEN-EYE, * and this latter name is the common one at Detroit, and we meet with it (among other names) at Chicago. At Seaford (Hempstead), L. I., GREAT-HEAD ;f in New Jersey at Barnegat, Tuckerton, Pleasantville (Atlantic Co.), Atlantic City, and Somers Point, CUB-HEAD ; at Cape May C. H., COB-HEAD, the last name being monopolized, however, by the young birds, which are regarded as a species distinct from the "Whistle-ducks." At Havre de Grace, Md., BULL-HEAD; at Morehead, N. C., IRON-HEAD. The name Cob -head is again heard at Cape May City, where the species is also very generally known as CUR; a name that may have come from likening the bird's note to that of a dog.£ But whatever the origin, this rather contemptuous title certainly has the charm of brevity, and is, in this respect at least, preferable to " Glaucionetta clangula americana" At Pleasantville (before mentioned"), JINGLER; at Baltimore and on the Patapsco River, WHITFLER; at Crisfield (Somerset Co.), Md., KING DIVER. * See No. 19 for " Golden-