THE GOLDEN EYE 195 
spring. During this time it frequents those parts of the coast 
which abound in shellfish, mostly diving for its food after the 
manner of the Scoters. On the coast of Norfolk, where Scaups 
often appear during winter in large flocks, they are called ‘ Mussel 
Ducks’, a name no less appropriate than Scaup; for mussels, and 
indeed many other kinds of shellfish, as well as insects and marine 
plants, seem equally acceptable to them. Selby records a single 
instance of the Scaup having bred so far south as Sutherlandshire, 
a female having been seen in the month of June, accompanied by 
a young one. They have paired on Loch Leven. It is generally 
distributed along the shores of Great Britain, excepting on the 
south ceast fof Ireland. In August, 1861, I observed two birds 
swimming sociably on a small fresh-water loch in the island of Islay, 
which, upon examination through a telescope, appeared to me to 
be, one, a kind of Goose, the other decidedly a Duck of some kind. 
On inquiry I found that the former was a Bernacle Goose, which had 
been caught in a neighbouring island in the previous winter, and 
had been given to the laird’s keeper, who pinioned it and turned it 
out on the loch to shift for itself. Of the Duck nothing was known, 
nor had it been observed before. It eventually proved to be an 
adult male Scaup Duck, but what had induced it to remain there 
all the summer in the society of a bird of a different tribe, is a 
question which I did not attempt to solve. 
The Scaup Duck is very abundant in Holland during winter, 
covering the inland seas with immense flocks. It is found more 
sparingly in other continental countries. It breeds in the extreme 
north, both in the eastern and western hemispheres. 
THE GOLDEN EYE 
CLANGULA GLAUCION 
A white patch under the eye; head and neck black, lustrous with violet 
and green; back black; scapulars, great wing-coverts, speculum, and 
under parts, white ; bill black; irides golden yellow; feet orange, with 
black membranes. Female—all the head and neck dark brown; feathers 
of the back dusky bordered with dark ash; greater wing-coverts white 
tipped with black; speculum and under parts white; tip of the bill 
yellowish, irides and feet pale yellow. Length eighteen and a half inches. 
Eggs buffy white. 
THis pretty, active little Duck is a regular winter visitant to the 
British shores, from autumn to spring, resorting to most of the locali- 
ties frequented by other species, and frequently falling to the sports- 
man’s gun, though little prized for the table. Females and young 
birds, called Morillons, are most numerous in England. They are 
very strong of flight, and are remarkable for making with their 
wings as they cleave the air a whistling sound, thought to resemble 
