DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS 213 
GOLDEN-EYE. 
Misled by the variations of colour, due to age, 
sex, or season, in this species, Linnzeus described 
different examples of it under the names of Azas 
clangula and A. glaucion; whilst even in our own 
day the females and immature birds are known 
as “Morillons,” and regarded as distinct from the 
much-rarer adult males or ‘“Golden-Eyes,” which 
are locally termed “ Rattlewings” or ‘‘ Whistlers ” 
from the noise produced by the wings during flight. 
The Golden-Eye forms the type of the well-marked 
genus Clangula of Fleming and of Boie, and is 
known to most modern ornithologists as C. elauczon. 
The male is a singularly striking and beautiful bird, 
with the general colour of the upper parts black, 
shot with metallic-green tints on the head, which 
is adorned with a small, yet distinct, drooping crest ; 
with a large white patch at the base of the bill 
under each eye, and with the drooping, elongated 
scapulars, and the underparts, white. The female 
is much less conspicuous, the black being replaced 
by dark brown, the elongated scapulars are wanting, 
and the spot under the eyes only faintly indicated. 
The white double alar speculum is, however, very 
strongly marked in both sexes. The Golden-Eye 
is certainly more addicted togfresh-water than the 
sea, and in most cases only quits these inland lakes 
and ponds, when continued frost compels it to do 
so. It then prefers such coasts as are low-lying, 
