250 THE DIVING DUCKS 



(Cardium edule), and this is confirmed by A. C. Chapman, who also includes small 

 crabs and spawn of Mollusca in the diet. In Iceland during the breeding season 

 H. H. Slater says that the food consists chiefly of fresh-water Mollusca (Limncea 

 peregra, pisidium, siiccinea) and a certain amount of vegetable matter, water-plants, 

 etc. The young are tended by the female as a rule, sometimes also for a short 

 time by the male, and gizzards of young examined by Hantzsch contained a 

 plentiful supply of vegetable food, especially small leaves and buds, as well as 

 the usual small pebbles. [F. c. B. J.] 



6. Song Period. Apparently the cooing or grunting notes are only used 

 during courtship, and are not heard after their arrival at the breeding-grounds 

 about the end of April. It must not be confused with the somewhat similar 

 alarm-note. [F. c. R. J.] 



GOLDENEYE [Cldngula ddngula (Linnaeus); Cldngula glaucion (Linnaeus). 

 Pied curre ( $ ), morillon ( $ and juv.). Rattlewings, spectacle-duck, 

 whistler, whewer, mussel-picker, diving duck ; whiteside (Westmorland) ; 

 wigeon (Northumberland) ; black and white poker (Norfolk). French, 

 garrot ; German, Schell-Ente ; Italian, quatr'-occhi]. 



I. Description. The goldeneye in full plumage may at once be distin- 

 guished by the large oval white patch at the base of the beak, which does not rise 

 above the level of the eye, the green gloss of the black head, and the large area of 

 white in the wing, which is crossed by a black bar. The sexes are dissimilar, and 

 the male displays a marked seasonal change of plumage. (PL 163.) Length 

 18 in. [470 mm.]. The male has the head and upper part of the neck black 

 glossed with green. The back and tail-coverts are black. The scapulars are 

 white, the outermost with a broad black margin along their inner webs, this margin 

 not being produced beyond the white portion of the vane, as in Barrow's goldeneye. 

 The minor, median, and major coverts are white, but the median series are tipped 

 with black forming a black bar. The secondaries are also white. The lower neck 

 and under parts are white. Beak bluish black, legs and toes yellowish, webs black, 

 iris yellow. The " eclipse " dress resembles that of the female, but more or less 

 white at the base of the beak, and on the wing is always retained. The female has 

 the head and upper part of the neck of a uniform umber-brown, the lower neck, 

 fore-breast, back, and flanks are grey, with mottlings of darker grey. Black tips 

 of the white wing-coverts divide the white area into three portions. The under 



