88 GOLDEN-EYE. 
though for the most part in immature plumage, near Doncaster, 
Hebden-Bridge, Barnsley, Leeds, York, Huddersfield, and 
elsewhere. In Norfolk they are not uncommon about Yar- 
mouth, that is to say young birds, the old ones only occurring 
in severe weather. They are likewise met with in the fens 
in Cambridgeshire; also on the Shropshire meres. In Oxford- 
shire birds of this species not very unfrequently occur, but 
chiefly females and young males. In Derbyshire some are 
met with at times, though but rarely, on the Trent—two 
on the 9th. of March, 1848. 
Individuals have been met with near Lilford, Northampton- . 
shire, by the Hon. T. L. Powys, and others have occurred 
elsewhere in the county. W. Brooks Gates, Esq. tells me of 
one obtained at Weston Favell, near Northampton, the 
beginning of February, 1855., In Lincolnshire on Croxby 
Lake. In Sussex near Lewes. In the winter of 1847, Mr. 
M. C. Cooke informs me that one was shot, an immature 
bird, at Swanscombe, in Kent. In Cornwall it is scarce 
near Falmouth, but has occurred at Gwyllyn Vase, and one 
was shot near the former place January the 29th., 1848. In 
Durham one, a male, was shot near Stockton-on-Tees, on the 
26th. of February, 1853; another at Bishop Auckland. 
In Orkney and Shetland they are frequent; so also~ in 
Treland. 
They migrate the end of October and beginning of 
November, and again towards the end of March or beginning 
of April. Their numbers with us are regulated by the com- 
parative severity or mildness of the winter. At the spring 
of the year they repair to the inland lochs. 
They frequently unite in small flocks in winter. The old 
males are shy, but the females and their broods are less so. 
When they have been frequenting fresh water for some time, 
they become very good to eat. A female Golden-Hye has been 
preserved on the water in St. James’s Park. 
The Golden-Eye is strong and vigorous on the wing, and 
a whistling sound, peculiar to it, and from which one of its 
trivial names is derived, the wings being struck quickly and 
as if with effort, is produeed by its flight. It dives with 
great expertness, and is below the surface on the slightest 
alarm. On the water it swims low. Meyer says ‘When it 
dives it has been observed to raise itself again quickly by 
touching the bottom with its tail, and this it does so fre- 
quently that in many instances it will be found that the 
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