350 SWIMMERS. 



in silence, and we then only hear, instead of a cry or a quack, 

 the very perceptible and noisy whistling of their short and 

 laboring wings, for which reason they are here sometimes called 

 by our gunners the Brass-eyed Whistlers. In their native haunts 

 they are by no means shy, allowing the sportsman to make a 

 near approach, as if conscious at the same time of their impu- 

 nity from ordinary peril, for no sooner do they perceive the flash 

 of the gun or hear the twang of the bow, than they dive with 

 a dexterity which sets the sportsman at defiance, and they 

 continue it so long and with such remarkable success that 

 the aboriginal natives have nicknamed them as conjuring ol 

 " Spirit Ducks." 



The food of the Golden-eye, for which it is often seen 

 diving, consists of shell-fish, fry, small reptiles, insects, small 

 Crustacea, and tender marine plants. In and near fresh waters 

 it feeds on fluviatile vegetables, such as the roots of Equise- 

 tuni and the seeds of some species of Polygonum. Its flesh, 

 particularly that of the young, is generally well flavored, though 

 inferior to that of several other kinds of Ducks. 



In Europe these birds descend in their migrations to the 

 South along the coasts of the ocean as far as Italy, where they 

 are known by the name of Quattr' Occhi, or " Four Eyes," from 

 the two round and white spots placed near the corners of the 

 bill, which at a distance give almost the appearance of two 

 additional eyes. They likewise pass into the central parts of 

 the Continent, and visit the great lakes of Switzerland. They 

 are equally common, at the same season, in most parts of the 

 United States, as far probably as the extremity of the Union, 

 and early in spring they are again seen in Missouri and on 

 the wide bosom of the Mississippi, preparing to depart for their 

 natal regions in the North. Though they fly with vigor, from 

 the shortness of their legs and the ampleness of the webs of 

 their feet, the Clangulas walk badly and with pain ; they ad- 

 vance only by jerks, and strike the ground so strongly with 

 their broad feet that each step produces a noise like the slap- 

 ping of the hands ; the wings are also extended to retain an 

 equiUbrium, and if hurried, the awkward bird falls on its breast 



