LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN WILD FOWL 11 



to stalk tliern. We have been too conspicuous to the keen eyes of the 

 birds and must conceal ourselves better; so v^'e pile up more ice 

 around the blind and keep more quiet. Better luck follows in con- 

 sequence, for the ducks decoy well, if their suspicions are not aroused, 

 and during the next two hours we have good sj^ort. By the time 

 the early morning flight is over, an hour or two after sunrise, we 

 have had enough of it and are glad to retTirn home with a small bag 

 of the keen-witted goldeneyes. 



Winter. — To the residents of Xew England the hardy goldeneye, 

 or " whistler " as it is more often called, is known chiefly as a winter 

 resident or an early spring and late fall migrant, mainly along the 

 seacoast now, though formerly, when less persecuted by gunners, it' 

 was often seen in inland ponds, where it is now seldom seen. It is 

 an exceedingly wary and sagacious bird, soon learning to desert 

 dangerous localities, but frequenting f reel}^ and regularlj- such places 

 as the Back Bay basin in the city of Boston, w^here it is free from 

 molestation. 



On the coast, goldeneyes spend their days playing or feeding off 

 the beaches, just bej^ond the breakers, swimming about among the 

 ice cakes or flying into the tidal estuaries to feed. At night they 

 usually fly off shore, where they can sleep in safety, bedded on the 

 open ocean. They leave the marshes or ponds near the sea at, or 

 within a few minutes of, sunset. 



Goldeneyes linger to spend the winter as far north as they can 

 find open water, in the interior as well as on the coast. In the swift 

 rapids and open air holes of our large rivers they find congenial 

 resorts as far north as Iowa, where they congregate in thousands. 

 E. S. Currier (1902) says of the winter habits of the goldeneye on the 

 jMississippi River : 



The goldeneyes are very playful aud, as spring approaches, noisy. The 

 gwift current is constantly forcing them toward the ice at the lower end of 

 the pool, so that they are obliged to take wing and go to -the other end of the 

 air hole frequently. They rise on rapidly beating wings, the clear whistling 

 ringing across the dark water and white ice fields, and scurrying upstream in 

 irregular groups, drop in again with a noisy splash. This drifting down and 

 flying back again seems to be enjoyed as much by the ducks as is coasting by 

 the children. 



Each group of arrivals is received with many bows and much flapping of 

 wings by the ones on the water, and the penetrating cry of the drakes " speer " 

 " speer " reaches to a great distance. It is a scene of great activity from day- 

 light iintil darkness sets in. and makes winter less dreary to the birds of this 

 locality. 



The greatest movements take place about sundown when they all head for a 

 favorite air hole (usually the largest) on whirring wings. Here they settle 

 in with much bustle and confusion, playing and feeding until darkness sets in. 

 They spend a great part of the night on thin, new ice at the edge of the open 

 water. As a rule, unless migration is on or the ice is running, there is little 



