Appendix, 239 



did to the original observer in the case of the \yild Duck's nest on a 

 pollard, or in a fir tree — How can the young ducks ever be got 

 down safely, and, still more, finally launched on their prc'per ele- 

 ment ? An observed habit of the Golden Eye answers this question. 

 A Lapp clergyman saw the parent bird conveying its young, to the 

 number of five or more, but one at a time, from the nest to tTie 

 water, and he was at last able to " make out that the young bird 

 was held under the bill, but supported by the neck of the parent." 

 The eggs of the Golden Eye are said to be ten or twelve or even 

 more in number, and of a brighter colour than is us,ual with the 

 eggs of the Duck tribe, being of a rather decided green colour. 



J2 '^ ^ ■ SMEW. 



But little that is quite authentic seems to be known of the nesting 

 habits of this little Duck ; nor is it certainly ascertained where its 

 chief numbers retire to breed. The eggs are said to be eight or ten 

 in number, or even more than that, and to be of a yellowish-white 

 colour, 



^ 0^' GREAT NORTHERN DIVER. 



This bird breeds on the Faroe Islands, and on some of the lakes in 

 Iceland ; as also on some of the islands of Finmark. Spitzbergen 

 and Greenland are also named as the breeding resort of many of 

 these Divers. Tliey lay, it is supposed, two eggs each, though in 

 some observed instances only one was to be seen. Mr. Audubon 

 says that three are sometimes laid. They are of a dark olive-brown, 

 with a few spots of dark umber brown, and are of considerable size. 



^ 1 1 LITTLE AUK. 



This little wave-dweller has its nesting home in countries far more 

 to the North than ours. It abounds on some parts of the Green- 



