THE GOLDEN EYE. 513 
dency to a black bar across the tips of the greater coverts; the white of the wing 
sometimes well defined. 
Length, eighteen and seventy-five one-hundredths inches; wing, eight and fifty- 
one-hundredths; tarsus, one and fifty one-hundredths; commissure, two inches. 
Hab. — Whole of North America. 
This handsome species is a common spring and autumn 
resident in New England; and in mild winters is often seen, 
both in the bays and rivers on the coast, and in the lakes 
and ponds in the interior, when they are open. It breeds 
in the northern portions of New England, particularly in 
the lake country of Northern Maine. I have found it, in the 
breeding season, in Lake Umbagog, and in the Magalloway 
River; but, although I searched carefully for its nest, I 
could not find it. This might have been, and probably was, 
owing to the nature of the nesting-place ; for I saw several 
pairs, and the localities were those which this bird selects 
for the purpose of incubation. 
The nest of this species is built in a hole, in a tall dead 
tree, or in the top of a tall stub, which is hollowed sufficiently 
for its reception. The pines and hemlocks often die; and, 
standing for years, the bark drops off, then the limbs; until 
the body is at last left, a single straight, smooth, white shaft, 
often from forty to fifty feet high, and two or three feet thick 
at its base. At last, in a fierce storm or gale, the shaft either 
breaks off close to the ground, or at sometimes the height 
of twenty or more feet; leaving, in the top that remains 
standing, a huge rent, sometimes a foot or even more in 
depth. In this the Golden Eye nests; building of grass, 
leaves, moss, and down from its own breast, a warm struc- 
ture, in which she lays from six to ten eggs. These are 
generally very rounded in form, of a greenish-blue color, 
and average from 2.40 by 1.75 inch to 2.36 by 1.78 inch 
in dimensions. The loud whistling of the wings of this 
species, as it passes through the air, has given it the name 
of the “ Whistler.” The bird feeds on small fish and 
various aquatic plants, and, when living in the interior, is 
33 
