DUCKS 



139 



dives like a Bash, and rarely conies well to decoys. 

 It has learned to be extremely wary and cau- 

 tious, but in stormy weather it often keeps close 

 to shore, which gives the shore gunner his 

 chance. It does not always dive fur its food, but 

 sometimes dabbles in the mud along the shore 

 with Blue-bills or other Ducks. Offshore il 

 feeds largely on mussels, which it dislodges and 

 brings up from the bottom, .\udubon found it 

 feeding on crawfish on the Ohio River. Wayne 

 says that in South Carolina a small mussel of 

 salt or brackish water is its favorite food. 

 Knight has observed it feeding on these and also 

 on some vegetable substances. He states that it 

 eats small fish and fry also, and along the coast 



it feeds on mussels and other moUusks ; but 

 Elliot believes that in the interior the Whistler 

 feeds on vegetable matter, such as grasses and 

 roots. 



\\ hen feeding there and when it first comes 

 to the salt water, in autumn, the young are 

 fairly tender and well-flavored, being about on 

 a par with the Blue-bill as a table delicacy. 

 Some of the residents of Cape Cod consider it 

 sujierior to the Scoters. Nuttall says that it 

 eats fresh-water vegetation, such as the roots 

 of Equisetums and the seeds of some species of 

 Polygonums. 



Edward Howe h'okitusii, in Game Birds. 

 irHd-Fo'ti.'I and Shore Birds. 



BARROW'S GOLDEN-EYE 



Clangula islandica ( Giuelin) 



A. O, U. Number 152 



Other Names. — Rocky Mountain Garrot ; Rocky 

 Mountain Golden-eye. 



Description. — Adui.t M.m.e : Coloration exactly as 

 in Golden-eye except that the white sl^ot in front of eye 

 1.9 IriiDKjle-shaped and white of wing is divided by a 

 dark bar formed by bases of greater coverts ; averages 

 larger than the Golden-eye; bill, differently shaped, 

 being shorter and deeper at base. Adult Fem.^le: 

 Indistinguishable froin the female Golden-eye in color 

 but sejiarable by shape of bill. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest; In hollow trees; made of 



grass, leaves, and weed stems and lined with feathers 

 and down. Eggs; 6 to lo, dull greenish. 



Distribution. — Northern North America ; breeds 

 from south-central Alaska and northwestern Mackenzie 

 to southern Oregon and southern Colorado, and from 

 northern Ungava to central Quebec ; winters from 

 southeastern Alaska, central Montana, the Great Lakes, 

 and Gulf of St. Lawrence south to central California, 

 southern Colorado, Nebraska, and New England ; acci- 

 dental in Europe; breeds commonly in Iceland, and is a 

 rare visitor to Greenland. 



Drawing by R. I. Brasher 



BARROWS GOLDEN-EYE (} nat. size) 



An active bird, diving like a flash, and rarely coining well to a decoy 



