356 BIRD-LIFE OF THE BORDERS 



are all at sea, and beyond his reach, and he has then only- 

 left to him the geese, which, if the winter be mild and 

 open, are pretty well inaccessible. Thus the chance of 

 falling in with a company of diving-ducks is a contingency 

 that is ever welcome, for on some days it averts the calamity 

 of an empty bag, and at more fortunate times adds a 

 pleasing variety to the sport. 



On the north-east coast, the most important species of 

 this group of ducks are the scaup and the golden-eye. 

 Both arrive in this country during the month of October ; 

 but while the former is entirely restricted to the salt 

 water, the golden-eyes distribute themselves throughout 

 the country, being almost equally common on inland lakes 

 and rivers as on tidal waters. 



About mid-October, one may begin to look for the 

 golden-eyes, which arrive during the latter half of that 

 month in small trips of from two or three to a dozen 

 birds. These, on first arrival, are easily approached in 

 a punt, before which they continue stupidly swimming 

 away even when within fair shot. But a few weeks later, 

 so soon as they have acquired experience of the dangers 

 of the coast, golden-eyes are among the wildest of all 

 wildfowl ; indeed, with the mergansers, they are perhaps 

 the only birds which, on open water, it is wholly useless to 

 try to approach in a gunning-punt. Golden-eyes, when 

 on the coast, spend the night at sea, Hying up in twos and 

 threes into the estuaries at the dawn, and their haunts are 

 deep-water channels, especially those with sandy or shingly 

 bottoms, where they continue diving ceaselessly all day 

 long. Their food consists of shrimps, small shell-fish and 

 marine insects, besides, in a lesser degree, the sea-grass 

 and other vegetable-matter : which latter they often carry 

 up from the bottom and eat at their leisure on the surface. 



