264 BAY,, SEA OR DIVING DUCKS 



view of some distant goal they sow the 

 air with vibrant whistling sounds. Ow- 

 ing to a difference in wing beats between 

 male and female, the brief moment when 

 the wings strike in unison with the effect 

 of a single bird is followed by an ever- 

 changing syncopation which challenges 

 the waiting ear to tell if it does not hear 

 a dozen birds instead of only two. 

 Again, in the dim twilight of early 

 morning, while the birds are moving 

 from a remote and secure lodging place to feed in some favorite stretch 

 of wild water, one guesses at their early industry from the sound of 

 multitudinous wings above, contending with the cold ether" (Daw- 

 son, 1909). 



Golden-eyes are very playful and, as spring approaches, noisy. Cur- 

 rier (1902) describes their play in a pool on the Mississippi River as fol- 

 lows: "The swift current is constantly forcing them toward the ice at 

 the lower end of the pool, so that they are obliged to take wing and go 

 to the other end of the air hole frequently. They rise on rapidly beat- 

 ing wings, the clear whistling ringing across the dark water and white ice 

 fields, and, scurrying upstream in irregular groups, drop in again with 

 a noisy splash. This drifting down and flying back again seems to be 

 enjoyed as much by the ducks as is coasting by the children. . . . It is a 

 scene of great activity from daylight until darkness sets in. ... As winter 

 abates and the increasing warmth causes the ice to give way, followed 

 by the great break-up as the ice goes out, the duck is at its best. The 

 moving ice fields keep them on the watch, and as the open water they 

 are in narrows, they spring up and fly over the grinding, churning mass, 

 drop into the next clear space upstream. The instant they hit the water 

 they go on playing, chasing each other, and diving to great distances." 

 The courtship of the Golden-eye, as described by Townsend (1910) 

 is as follows: "One or more males swim restlessly back and forth and 

 around a female. The feathers of the cheeks and crest of the male are so 

 erected that the head looks large and round, the neck correspondingly 

 small. As he swims along, the head is thrust out in front close to the 

 water, occasionally dabbling at it. Suddenly he springs forward, ele- 

 vating his breast, and at the same time he enters the most typical and 

 essential part of the performance. The neck is stretched straight up, and 



the bill, pointing to the zenith, is 

 opened to emit a harsh, rasping, double 

 note, zzee-at, vibratory and searching 

 in character. The head is then quickly 

 snapped back until the occiput touches 

 the rump, whence it is brought forward 

 again with a jerk to the normal posi- 

 Courtship of Golden-eyes tion. As the head is returned to its 



