.".50 THE BIRDS OF SUSSEX. 



breed in Sussex^ nor I believe in any part of the British Isles. 

 In Norway and Lapland^ it places its nest in holes of trees, 

 sometimes as much as eight feet from the ground, and the 

 bird has been seen to carry its young down to the water, 

 holding it under the bill, but supported by the neck of the 

 parent. Boxes are often supplied for it by the natives, 

 which are lined with the soft down of the bird. (Sec Yarrell, 

 B. B. vol. iv. p. 438.) 



I have the following notes : — On January 1st, 1840, a male 

 specimen was shot in Henfield Level ; the patch at the inser- 

 tion of the upper mandible, having but few white feathers, 

 showed it, I suppose, to be not quite mature. On February 

 Gth, 1841, I was standing in a severe snowstorm, at Lancing, 

 with deep snow on the ground, when a Golden-eye suddenly 

 plunged perpendicularly down into a small salt-water pool, 

 like a piece of lead, but, immediately rising again, I shot it, 

 and it proved to be an adult male. On November Gth, 1856, 

 I shot a female Golden-eye on the lower pond at Bolney. 



Mr. Booth, in his ' Rough Notes,^ states that he has 

 known several small parties, and single birds, to remain for 

 some weeks about the muddy harbours and estuaries of the 

 Sussex coast. Mr. Jeffery (p. n.) mentions that two adult 

 females were shot near Chichester, in January 1867 ; one, 

 immature, on Ratham Mill Pond, in February 1872, and 

 several in January 1887. Mr. Knox says that he has shot 

 this bird at Pagham, and received several specimens killed at 

 Burton and Pulborough, presenting that state of plumage 

 in which it has been called the " Morillon.^^ Mr. Nay lor, 

 in the ' Field ' of January 19th, 1887, records a male Golden- 

 eye shot on the Crumble pond, Eastbourne, in December 

 1886 ; and no doubt many other specimens have been obtained 

 in the county. An adult male was killed some years since, 

 on the lake at Knepp. It is known in Sussex as the " Magpie 

 Diver,^^ though in some counties this name is given to the 

 Tufted Duck. 



