AMERICAN GOLDEN-YE 



267 



"On striking the water there was no pause, they just passed out of sight, 

 rising nearly 100 yards away and flying low over the water." 



The same writer describes how, from a bridge, he watched a male 

 Golden-eye diving to feed in the clear water. "On reaching the bottom, 

 it at once commenced to turn the stones over with the bill, and from 

 under these, various water insects were found or caught as they attempted 

 to escape. Sometimes it would find a small batch of young fresh-water 

 mussels, and these it would devour very quickly one after the other, like 

 a duck taking grain out of a pan. It never stayed under water more than 

 a minute, even when finding food abundant in one spot, but came up, 

 rested for a moment or two on the surface, and dived again. All food 

 was swallowed where it was found, and small pebbles and fairly large 

 stones were pushed over in the search." Golden-eyes timed in their dives 

 when feeding were found to remain under for about 21 seconds with an 

 average of 1? seconds between dives. 



In spring these birds are early migrants; April is the month of 

 greatest movement but, weather permitting, many will start in March 

 and follow the iceline on their way north. Summer is spent on a breed- 

 ing range that extends from Newfoundland to Central Alaska, the 

 large majority breeding north of the Canadian border, though an appre- 

 ciable number nest in many of the Northern States. In autumn the main 

 flight is southward and southeastward toward the Atlantic coast. Flocks 

 may be seen in migration about the beginning of October and the flight 

 continues until about the 



middle of November. Ordi- 

 narily the full-plumaged old 

 males are the last to arrive, 

 not abandoning their north- 

 ern haunts until the icy 

 waters are frozen over. In 

 winter large numbers of 

 these ducks visit the Atlantic 

 coast from Maine to South 

 Carolina and the Pacific coast 

 from the Aleutian Islands to 

 southern California. It is a 

 common sight to see flocks 

 all through the winter on 

 Lakes Michigan, Ontario and 

 Erie. As is the case with other 

 species, many Golden-eyes 

 are caught in the ice on the 

 large lakes of the interior 

 and perish; they are so hardy, 

 however, that fewer of them 

 than of other species suffer 

 this fate. 



