204 THE BIRDS OF OXFORDSHIEE. 



bird, but at the present time it is a regular visitor to that 

 locality, arriving in October, and, if the water be unfrozen, 

 remaining during the winter ; parties of five or six may often 

 be seen, and on the nth December, 1886, I counted as many 

 as a dozen in one bunch. 



Here on the 28th March in the same year, a beautifully 

 mild spring morning, following the protracted frost which 

 lasted almost uninterruptedly from the first week in January, 

 since which date the water had been ice-bound (bearing skaters 

 on the 13th March), and all fowl had been banished, I saw a 

 male and female Tufted Duck evidently paired, the male 

 in most perfect plumage, with well-developed crest and snowy 

 flanks. They swam quietly across the pool, the drake keeping 

 a couple of feet in the rear, with a proud appearance of 

 proprietorship, his almost constantly elevated head and neck, 

 and vigilant attitude, making him appear even larger by 

 contrast with his sombre mate, than was actually the case ; 

 the latter swam with her head drawn back resting on her 

 shoulders, confiding her safety wholly to her protector. In 

 their appearance and manners in fact they entirely agreed 

 with the paired birds as I have seen them in their breeding- 

 haunts in Nottmghamshire, and I confidently hoped that they 

 might rear their young with us ; but in this I was disappointed, 

 for they disappeared shortly after. 



To Mid-Oxon, and the Thames, the Tufted Duck is a 

 regular winter visitor, and it is often shot on Port Meadow. 



THE GOLDEN-EYED DUCK. 



Clangula giaucion. 



The Golden Eye is a not uncommon winter visitor, females 

 and immature males largely predominating, the adult drakes 

 being rarely met with. On two occasions, however, in January, 

 1884, and December, 1886, I have observed drakes in fine 

 plumage on Clattercote Reservoir; in each case they were 



