GOLDEN-EYE. 89 



tips of its tail feathers are much worn.' He also adds, 'when 

 on the wing, and pursued by birds of prey, it has the 

 capacity of shooting down from the air into the water, and 

 disappearing instantaneously below its surface.' Yarrell states 

 that if five or six of these Ducks are together, they do not 

 all dive at the same time, but that some of them keep a 

 good look-out to prevent being approached and surprised by 

 an enemy. Sir William Jardine says, on the contrary, that 

 they are the more easily approached for that they all dive 

 simultaneously. When thus stolen a march on, they seek 

 safety by flight, and not by diving. On the land they walk 

 in a shuffling and ungainly manner. 



They make their food of shell-fish, frogs, and tadpoles, 

 water-insects, mollusca, small fry, and the buds, seeds, and 

 roots of various plants. 



Their cry is hoarse and somewhat sibilous, but the former 

 sound is more or less characteristic of all the Ducks, none of 

 whom are wont to express their wants and wishes 'sotto voce.' 



The Golden-Eye builds in the vicinity of lakes and rivers, 

 giving a preference to the latter, particularly such as flow over 

 falls and rapids. The Laplanders place boxes with holes in 

 them in the trees in these localities, for the birds to build in, 

 and thus procure the eggs, for the cotes are sure to be resorted 

 to for the purpose of laying in. The nest is made of rushes 

 and other herbage, lined with down. Mr. Hewitson found one 

 in a hole in a tree, ten or twelve feet from the ground. 



The eggs are of a greenish hue, and from ten to fourteen 

 in number. 



It appears that the old bird takes the young ones to the 

 water by holding it under the bill between it and' the neck. 



Male; weight, nearly two pounds; length, one foot six to one 

 foot seven inches; bill, bluish black, deep at the base, behind 

 it is a round patch of clear white, observable in flight, even 

 at a considerable distance; iris, golden yellow; forehead, brownish 

 black. The head, which is large, is, on the crown, the feathers 

 on the back of which are a little elongated, and capable of 

 being much raised at will, as are the neck on the upper part, 

 nape, chin, and throat, brownish black, glossed with green and 

 violet; the lower part of the neck all round and the breast, 

 white, or yellowish white in some, the sides dull greyish black, 

 and there are a few streaks of velvet black on the flanks, the 

 outer parts of the inner webs of the feathers being of that 

 colour. Back, deep bluish black. 



