194 The Goose-like Birds 



on the ground and lining it with a few straws. MacFarlane did not find it in 

 Arctic America, although it probably nests there, nor did Mr. Bent find it in 

 North Dakota, although it is reported as nesting occasionally in Minnesota and 

 Manitoba. In winter it comes far south, being abundant along the California 

 coast, and on the Atlantic coast from Long Island to northern South America, 

 preferring the salt-water marshes. The Lesser Scaup-Duck (F. affinis), also of 

 North America, is smaller than the last and has the head in the male glossed with 

 purple instead of green. Its habits are similar to those of its larger relative, and, 

 although its main nesting ground is in the far North, it not infrequently nests 

 from Iowa and Manitoba northward. It, however, has a greater preference for 

 fresh water and was observed by Mr. Bent about the larger lakes in North Dakota, 

 where he found several nests. These were usually on islands and were concealed 

 in the taller prairie grass or under low bushes. The eggs number from nine to 

 fifteen and are of a rich dark buff or coffee-color. It appears that the males 

 desert the females after incubation begins and flock by themselves in the sloughs 

 or small ponds. 



Other forms are the Chinese Scaup-Duck (F. affinis mariloides] of eastern 

 Asia, the New Zealand Scaup (F. nova-zealandicB], the Ring-necked Duck (F. 

 collarls) of North America, which takes its name from the presence of a chestnut 

 collar about the neck, and finally the Crested Scaup-Duck (F.fuligula) of the 

 eastern part of the Old World, which may be known by the long, pendent occipital 

 crest. Several fossil forms have also been described from the upper Tertiary 

 of France and Italy. 



The Golden-eyed Ducks (Clangula), so named on account of the bright yellow 

 iris, are handsome birds, the male with the upper parts pied black and white, 

 and the lower parts entirely white, while the head and upper neck is black glossed 

 with green, blue, or violet and set off by a white spot between the bill and eye. 

 Of the three or four forms the true Golden-eye (C. clangula} is found in Arctic 

 Europe and Asia, migrating south in winter to northern India and China. Not 

 much is known of its habits beyond the fact that its nest is placed in a hollow 

 tree and the eggs are bright green in color. Hardly distinguishable from this 

 except by its larger size is the American Golden-eye (C. clangula americana), 

 which is found throughout North America generally, nesting from Maine and 

 North Dakota northward, and coming far south in winter. Although this species 

 may occasionally nest on the ground, as reported by Dall, who found it nesting in 

 marshes along the Yukon, it usually selects a hollow stump or tree in which to 

 deposit the eggs. It is not particular as to the kind of tree or the nature of the 

 cavity so long as it is large enough to accommodate the bird. Thus Bent found 

 several nests in North Dakota variously placed in swamp oak, elm, and cotton- 

 wood trees, at a distance of from eight to twenty feet from the ground. One, in 

 a dead branch of a small elm, was only three inches wide and four and one half 

 inches high at the entrance, and about three feet deep. The eggs, some eight to 

 fourteen in number, are placed on chips and dead wood at the bottom of the 

 cavity or sometimes in a thick, matted mass of down. In color the eggs are a 

 clear, pale, malachite green. Barrow's Golden-eye (C. islanctica) , which may be 



