6 BULLETIN 130, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Dr. W. N. Macartney (1918) observed a similar performance near 

 Dundee, Quebec ; he writes : 



On the afternoon of July 7 the old cluck was seen at the foot of the tree, 

 standing on the ground. She gave several low quacks or calls, and out of the 

 hole in the tree overhead promptly tumbled about a baker's dozen of fledgling 

 ducks. They were unable to fly, but were sufficiently grown to be able 

 to ease their fall to the earth, and not unlike a flock of butterflies, they came 

 down pell-mell, fluttering and tumbling, some of them heels over head, until 

 they reached the ground, unharmed. The tree was nearly but not quite 

 perpendicular, so they were unable to scramble down. The old bird gathered 

 them in a bunch and piloted them along the fence for some 3 or 4 rods to the 

 river. Down the rocky shore they went and into the water. The old duck 

 then sank low in the water and the ducklings gathered over her back in a 

 compact clump. She took them across the bay to a bed of rushes, some 10 

 rods distant, where they disappeared from sight. 



Very little seems to be known about the food of the young, but 

 probably they are fed largely on insects and soft animal food. Dr. 

 Charles W. Townsend (1913) gives the following account of the be- 

 havior of a mother goldeneye and her young on a Labrador stream : 



The old bird crouched low in the water, her golden eyes shining very prom- 

 inently, and uttered hoarse rasping croaks. The young, whose eyes were 

 gray-blue and inconspicuous, at once scattered, diving repeatedly, and dis- 

 appeared in the bushes, while the mother kept prominently in view within 

 20 yards of the canoe leading us downstream. After repeatedly swimming 

 and flying short distances ahead of the canoe for half a mile or so, croaking 

 all the time, she disappeared around a bend and undoubtedly flew back to the 

 young. Near at hand the young made no sound, but at a distance a loud 

 beseeching peep was uttered. 



Plumages. — The downy young goldeneye is quite distinctively 

 colored and marked; it also has a carriage all its own, for it walks 

 in a more upright position than other young ducks and it carries 

 its head in a more loftly and perky attitude, which gives it a very 

 smart appearance. The upper part of the head, down to a line run- 

 ning straight back from the commissure to the nape, is deep, rich, 

 glossy " bone brown " ; the throat and cheeks are pure white, the 

 white spaces nearly meeting on the hind neck ; the upper parts vary 

 from pale " clove brown " on the upper back to deep " bone browm " 

 on the rump; these colors shade off to "hair brown" on the sides 

 and form a ring of the same around the neck ; the posterior edges of 

 the wings are white, and there is a white spot on each scapular re- 

 gion and one on each side of the rump; the belly is white. The 

 colors become paler with age. 



The first feathers appear on the flanks and scapulars and then in 

 the tail while the bird is very small. According to Millais (1913) : 



Three nestlings hatched by Mr. Blaauw, at Gooilust, in Holland, on June 

 20, 1908, began to show feathers on the scapulars on July 18th. On August 



