On Mon, 3 Nov 1997, Jack Bowling wrote:

> As for male/female ID: the one which is often but not always accepted
> as being a good discriminator is the size of the anterior occipital
> "bump" on the top of the head. Males often have a decidely larger
> forward bump than females. This also applies to Common Loon. Caution is
> advised when applying this to individual loons whereas it
> is obvious when viewing a breeding pair.
>
> - Jack Bowling
> jcbowling at mindlink.bc.ca
> jbowling at mag-net.com
> Fort Nelson, BC

Jack,

I thought the word occipital referred to the back of the head where the
head attaches to the neck (where the occipital bone is in mammals). When
you say "anterior occipital bump" and "forward bump" I take it you're
referring to a different area? That is, if you think of a YBLO head as
somewhat flat on top, you're talking about the bump at the front of the
flat area, more or less over the eye? Or did I get it wrong?

Chris Hill
Everett, WA
cehill at u.washington.edu