18 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. X1i1° 
“The cry of this bird isa mere grunting croak and is never heard 
to any considerable distance ; the epithet Clangula given to it by the 
earlier ornithologists had reference not to its voice but to the whistling 
of its wings.” 
The number of the flocks seems to vary greatly ; here in India no 
large ones are likely to be seen, but it will be noted that, even on the 
Indus, Stoker met with small flocks, not pairs and single birds, and where 
common it is said sometimes to assemble in flocks of some hundreds. 
Normally the Golden-eye breeds in hollows in trees or, less often, in 
holes in the ground, in banks or rocks, put sometimes it makes a nest 
on the ground in the same manner as most other ducks. In the latter 
case the nest is usually rather scanty and ill-formed but with a thick 
lining. Dresser’s remarks are the best I can find re the breeding 
of the Golden-eye and, though already quoted by Hume, I again re- 
produce part of them. 
“Tn the north of Finland, in Sweden and in Norway, it nests in 
hollow trees, either near to or at some distance from the water, and 
very frequently in the nest-boxes which the peasants hang up for water- 
fowls to breed in. These are frequently hung up close to the peasants’ 
huts; and even then the Golden-eye will nest in them. The bottom 
of the hollow tree or nest-box is neatly lined by the old bird with down ; 
and on this soft bed the eggs, which vary in number from ten or twelve 
to seventeen or even nineteen, are deposited. When hatched the young 
birds are carried by the female in her beak down to the ground or to the 
water, one after another being taken down until the whole brood is taken 
in safety from the elevated breeding place, and I have been assured by the 
peasants that this always takes place in the dead of the night. The eges 
of this duck are dull greyish-green, uniform in tinge and rather glossy 
in texture of shell, oval in shape, and in size average about 2°4 by 1°55 
inch ; and the down with which the nest is lined is sooty greyish- 
white, the tips of the down being rather darker than the central portion.” 
It would seem that in the majority of cases the Golden-eye selects 
sites by fresh water for breeding purposes, but they also sometimes breed 
on or near the coast. | 
The British Museum eggs vary in length from 2:1" to 2°4" and im 
breadth between 1°55" and 1:75". Oates says that in colour they are a 
greyish-creen of different shades. 
