DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS 213 



GOLDEN-EYE. 



Misled by the variations of colour, due to age, 

 sex, or season, in this species, Linnaeus described 

 different examples of it under the names of Anas 

 clangula and A. glaucion ; whilst even in our own 

 day the females and immature birds are known 

 as " Morillons," and regarded as distinct from the 

 much-rarer adult males or " Golden-Eyes," which 

 are locally termed " Rattle wings " or " Whistlers " 

 from the noise produced by the wings during flight. 

 The Golden-Eye forms the type of the well-marked 

 genus Clangula of Fleming and of Boie, and is 

 known to most modern ornithologists as C. glaucion. 

 The male is a singularly striking and beautiful bird, 

 with the general colour of the upper parts black, 

 shot with metallic-green tints on the head, which 

 is adorned with a small, yet distinct, drooping crest ; 

 with a large white patch at the base of the bill 

 under each eye, and with the drooping, elongated 

 scapulars, and the underparts, white. The female 

 is much less conspicuous, the black being replaced 

 by dark brown, the elongated scapulars are wanting, 

 and the spot under the eyes only faintly indicated. 

 The white double alar speculum is, however, very 

 strongly marked in both sexes. The Golden- Eye 

 is certainly more addicted to fresh-water than the 

 sea, and in most cases only quits these inland lakes 

 and ponds, when continued frost compels it to do 

 so. It then prefers such coasts as are low-lying, 



