GOLDEN-EYE. 5<J1 



been distinguished under the name of Fu/it/u/a glaucion amcricana * ; 

 but the evidence in proof of this assertion is very unsatisfactory. 

 The nearest ally of the Golden-eye is Barrow's Golden-eye (F. islandlca) , 

 an American species having nearly the same geographical distribution as 

 that of the Golden-eye on that continent, but extending to Greenland and 

 Iceland. The most striking point of distinction between the two species 

 is that in Barrow's Golden-eye the white on the sides of the head extends 

 in a crescent above the base of the bill in front of the eye. 



The Golden-eye is a resident where open water is to be fcniucl iu its 

 breeding-quarters all the year round ; but as this is very rarely the case, 

 never in the northern portions of its range, and only in exceptionally mild 

 winters in its most southerly breeding-haunts, it may fairly be regarded as 

 a migrant. On the Arctic circle it is only to be found from the end 

 of May to the beginning of October; but in Finland, in lat. 62°, it has 

 eggs in the last week of ]May. In England it is found from the middle of 

 October to the middle of April. 



The Golden-eye chooses for its breeding-grounds a combination of 

 forest, lake, river, and marsh, and when the ice drives it southwards it 

 prefers a similar locality ; but if such be not easily found it Avhiles away 

 the winter months on the sea-coast. It is remarkable for its noisy flight, 

 its rapidly moved wings whistling in the wind as it passes overhead. It 

 makes also a great splashing in the water when it rises, but does not 

 readily take wing, as it is a most expert swimmer and diver. It is one of 

 the shyest of Ducks and very difficult to shoot. It makes the same grating 

 sound when calling to its fellows during flight as the Scaup and the Tufted 

 Duck. It is a clumsy walker on the land, and lives almost entirely on the 

 water, feeding on nearly every kind of both animal and vegetable food that 

 its unrivalled powers of diving enable it to find at the bottom : small fish, 

 young frogs, shell-fish, insects, the seeds and buds or tender leaves of water- 

 plants, nothing comes amiss to it. 



But the most remarkable fact in the history of the Golden-eye is its 

 habit of occasionally perching on the bare branch of some forest tree, and 

 of discovering a hole in the trunk, sometimes quite a small one, but leading 

 to a hollow inside, where it deposits eggs on the rotten chips of wood with- 

 out any nest, like a Woodpecker. These breeding-places are sometimes a 

 considerable distance from the ground. In the valley of the Petchora I 

 have seen one at least five-and-twenty feet from the ground ; but one I saw 

 in the valley of the Yenesay was not more than half as high. It has been 



* The synonymy of the American form i.> as follows : — 



Clangula americana, Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. ^- N. Amer. p. 58 (1838). 

 Bucephala americana (Bomip.), Baird, B. N. Amer. p. 700 (1858). 

 Clangula glauciiim americana {Bonap.), Ridgu: Pruc. U.S. Xat. Mus. iii. p. 204 

 (1880). 



