344 



DUCK. 



and Hudson's Bay, as far as New York, in America ; 

 and i'rorn Iceland and Spitzbergen, over Lapland, the 

 Russian dominions, Sweden, Norway, and the northern 

 parts of the British Isles, in Europe. The bands 

 which visit the Orkneys, appear in October, and con- 

 tinue there till April. About sunset they are seen in 

 large companies, going to and returning from the 

 bays, in which they frequently pass the night, making 

 a noise, which, in frosty weather, may be heard at the 

 distance of some miles. They are rather scarce in 

 England, to which they resort only in very hard 

 winters, and even then in small straggling parties. 

 They fly swiftly, but seldom to a great distance, 

 making a loud and singular cry. They are expert 

 divers, and supposed to live chiefly on shell-fish. The 

 female places her nest among the grass, near the 

 water, and like the eider duck, lines it with the fine 

 down of her own body. In the northern parts of the 

 American continent, these ducks are found in vast 

 numbers during the summer ; but as they are more 

 marine in their habits than most of the species, they 

 do not move farther to the south in winter, at least in 

 their more numerous masses, than they are compelled 

 to by the freezing up of the shoals and shallows, 

 where they seek their food. Their nests are described 

 as being hid in the grass or other coarse herbage ; 

 but never at any very great distance from the sea. 

 On their southward migrations, they seldom resort to 

 the inland marshes, but take short nights from channel 

 to channel in the broken parts of the shores. Their 

 style of flight is rapid, and they utter a singular, and 

 when in numbers, a very loud cry while on the wing. 

 Their flesh is rank in flavour, and little esteemed ; 

 and thus they are apt to take their flights and carry 

 0*1 their fishing without being much disturbed. 



GARROTS (Clangula). These are northern species, 

 found,we believe, most abundantly in the northern parts 

 of the Atlantic, and therefore more plentiful on the 

 shores of America than on those of Europe, even in the 

 winter months, when they quit their polar habitations, 

 or rather are driven from them by the ice. The posi- 

 tion of the Scandinavian mountains forms a sort of 

 barrier, excluding the polar birds of the Atlantic from 

 the north of continental Europe ; and besides, the 

 waters of the Baltic do not partake of any of the 

 advantages of the Gulf Stream, and the fertility which 

 it brings ; and this farther arrests the progress of 

 those birds, which otherwise might be much more 

 abundant in the marshy districts of central Europe 

 during the winter. The general characters of the 

 garrots are : the bill short and narrow ; the feathers 

 on the scapulars produced, pointed, and apart from 

 each other ; the third quills passing over the prima- 

 ries in the closed wing, but not being loose and pen- 

 dent as they are in some birds. They are rather 

 small in size, but very active. 



THE GOLDEN EYE, or COMMON GARROT (C. vul' 

 garis. This species is named from the colour of the 

 iris of the eye, which is very brilliant, of a bright yel- 

 low colour, und shines like a little spot of gold upon 

 the side of the head. They swim swiftly and beauti- 

 fully, dive with great expcrtness, and live upon aquatic 

 animals, including reptiles, and even water mice. On 

 the wing their motion is very swift, but their flight is 

 usually low, and accompanied by a peculiar whistling 

 or clangulous noise. Their breeding places in the east- 

 ern continent are little known ; but in America they 

 are said to build on the stumps and in the hollows of 

 old trees. The golden eye is about eighteen inches 



long, and thirty in the stretch of the wings, and 

 weighs about a pound and three quarters. The bill 

 is of a bluish colour. The upper part of the neck, 

 and the head, the feathers on the top of which are 

 very thick and much produced, forming a sort of 

 crest, but not a pendent one, are of a rich glossy 

 green, with the exception of a white spot just behind 

 the gape. Below the green there is a collar of deep 

 velvet black, below which the whole under part in 

 pure white, with the exception of a few black feathers 

 on the flanks and thighs. The middle of the back 

 and the rump black, and the tail brownish ; some of 

 the scapular feathers produced and of-a white colour, 

 the rest are black, as are also the tertiary quills, which 

 cross over the primaries. General colour of the wings 

 brownish black, with the coverts and secondaries white 

 crossed on the middle by a black bar. The female is 

 brown on the head and dusky on the back, with paler 

 margins to the leathers. The males do not attain 

 the full colours of their mature plumage until the 

 second year. 



HARLEQUIN GARROT ( C. histrionica). This species 

 is named from the similarly contrasted colours of its 

 coat. The harlequin inhabits the same parts of the 

 world as its congener, the golden eye, but it inhabits 

 more northerly, and does not appear in the low 

 latitudes of either continent in even the severest 

 winters. This does not arise from its being a scarce 

 bird in the high latitudes, but from its polar habits. 

 It is abundant on the shores of the arctic ocean both 

 in America and in Siberia, and also in the islands to 

 the south of Behring's Strait. Indeed, excepting as 

 an occasional straggler, it appears to keep, at all 

 seasons, as near to the polar ice as the water is open. 

 In Britain we believe it has never once appeared in 

 the south, or even on the main land of Scotland, 

 though it may at some times be driven upon those 

 inhospitable shores near Cape Rath, which are not 

 very accessible to observation during the winter 

 storms. It is sometimes seen in the more remote 

 isles of the north, though only a straggler. On the 

 coast of America it is a little more common, because 

 that coast lies nearer to the Arctic countries in which 

 it breeds ; but even there it is very rare on the shores 

 of the midland states, and quite unknown on those of 

 the southern. 



It is smaller than the golden eye, and much more 

 peculiar in its markings, though that also is a gaily 

 coloured bird. Its length is about seventeen inches, 

 the stretch of its wings about twenty-six, and its 

 weight a pound, or perhaps a little more. The 

 general colour of the upper part of the body is a deep 

 glossy green, which in some lights appears almost 

 black, but in others it throws out, brilliant reflections 

 of lighter greeu and of purple. This green is marked 

 with lines of white and black, very conspicuous and 

 well defined,' and placed differently from similar 

 markings on any other birds. On each side of the 

 head there is a curved white line, beginning near the 

 nape, passing over the eye to the gape, and returning 

 on the cheek, where it has a reddish tinge. This 

 white curve is margined on its under side by a very 

 narrow line of intense velvet black, without any 

 reflections, which contrasts strongly with the ground- 

 colour of the head, notwithstanding the deep tint of 

 the green on that. A circular spot of white is placed 

 immediately behind the eye ; and from a little behind 

 that, a white line passes from the head down the side 

 of the neck, and another narrow line of white, 



