270 BAY, SEA OR DIVING DUCKS 



broadly tipped with white; three outer secondaries, black, the next one tipped with 

 white, others white; primaries and their coverts, dusky black. Wing of Female. See 

 Juvenile American Golden-eye. 



SPECIMEN IDENTIFICATION 



See American Golden-eye. 



FIELD MARKS 



See American Golden-eye. 



LIFE STORY 



Barrow's Golden-eye is exclusively a North American species and 

 occurs in the Old World only as a straggler. It is aptly called Rocky 

 Mountain Golden-eye, as this continental divide is the centre of its abun- 

 dance. It is unusual amongst our wild fowl in that it possesses two dis- 

 tinct and widely separated ranges; it breeds in comparatively large num- 

 bers in the West, from south-central Alberta to Colorado and California, 

 and is entirely absent as a breeder across the continent until it is found 

 in Labrador, where nesting colonies are again located. The peculiarity 

 of its two widely separated ranges finds a parallel in the case of the 

 Harlequin Ducks which have an Atlantic as well as a Pacific coast breed- 

 ing range. These birds are sub-specifically distinct due to minor differ- 

 ences of featheration, while the eastern and western Barrow's are indis- 

 tinguishable one from another. 



In its Rocky Mountain range it sometimes nests at elevations as high 

 as 10,000 feet above the level of the sea. In the small, mountain lakes 

 in British Columbia these birds gather for their courtships and nesting, 

 and by the middle of April each little lake has its flock of courting 

 Golden-eyes (the young of neither sex breed before the second summer). 

 Munro (1918) says that the display "is attended by much solemn bowing 

 on the part of the drake, with a frequent backward kick, sufficiently 

 strong to send a jet of water several feet into the air. His violet head is 

 puffed out to the greatest possible extent, and altogether he is a hand- 

 some bird as, in a frenzy of sexual excitement, he swims up to the soberly 

 attired duck. Sometimes the entire flock will commence to feed as if at 

 a given signal, and again all the birds will simultaneously take wing 

 and circle about the lake several times before once more splashing down 

 to resume their courtship." After mating, "the males acted as if ex- 

 tremely jealous of each other and on several occasions left their mates 

 and engaged in spirited encounters. They rushed together over the sur- 

 face with much splashing, and when about to meet rose upright and 

 buffeted each other with their wings." 



Like the American Golden-eye, this species is a tree nester, making 

 its home in natural cavities in trees or dead stumps, or may select a de- 

 serted woodpecker's or squirrel's hole in which to take up its abode. 

 Whenever possible, suitable trees in the vicinity of water will be selected, 

 but when such are not available, sites may be chosen in wooded country 

 sometimes half a mile away from the nearest water. The greatest con- 



