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HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA. 8G9 



able romantic situations ; like the alpine cinclus, it 

 seeks out the roost rocky and agitated torrents, in 

 such situations it has been seen in the rivulets of Hud- 

 son Bay, as much as ninety miles inland from the 

 sea ; here it seeks out its appropriate fare of ^pawn, 

 shell-fish and the larva? of aquatic or fluviatile insects. 

 On the low bushy and shady banks of these streams 

 it constructs its nest, ^Yhich contains from twelve to 

 fourteen pure white eggs. On the margins of fresh- 

 water ponds in Labrador Mr. Audubon also observed 

 this species, and he remarks, that instead of rearing 

 their young in the same situations chosen for breeding, 

 as with the velvet and surf duck, it conducts its brood 

 to the sea as soon as they are hatched. Its flight is 

 hifrh and swift ; and it swims and dives with the ut- 

 most dexterity. So ^rreat is its confidence in the 

 security of its most natural element, that on the re- 

 port of a gun over the water, it instantly quits its 

 flight and dives at once with the celerity of thought. 

 It is said to be clamorous, and that its voice is a sort 

 of whistle; the anatomy of the trachea is however, 

 unknown, and it is not said whether this sibilation be 

 really produced from the throat or the wings, as is 

 the latter case in the common clangula or golden eye. 

 Driven from their solitary resorts in the interior by 

 the invasion of frost, they are now seen out at sea 

 engaged in obtaining a difl*erent mode of subsistence. 

 Amidst these icy barriers they still continue to endure 

 the rigors of winter, continually receding farther out 

 to sea, or making limited and almost accidental visits 

 to milder regions. AVhen discovered, they display 

 the utmost vigilance, and instantly take to wing. It 

 is considered to be a game superior in flavor to the 

 common wild duck. From the singular and beautiful 



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