600 



6 



over the coasts of the United States. Dr. E. Coues records it from South Carolina; and 

 Dr. Gundlach states that it has been observed in Cuba. According to Mr. George N. Lawrence 

 (Mem. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. ii. p. 315), Colonel Grayson observed it at Mazatlan, in North- 

 western Mexico; and he adds that it is " common in the winter months." 



During the summer season, when at its breeding-haunts, the Golden-eye is said to be 

 tolerably tame and unsuspicious, permitting itself to be approached within a short distance ; and 

 it frequently builds in the nest-boxes or hollow sections of trees hung up by the peasants, even 

 when these are tolerably close to inhabited places. In the winter, however, it is a shy and wary 

 bird, jealous of being approached, active and lively hi its movements, and very swift on the wing. 

 I have frequently met with small flocks of this species on the coast during winter, and found 

 them shy and difficult of approach, though by watching them from cover and running down 

 whilst they dived down in search of food, I could often get within range, and shot several. I 

 always met with it in the sea, or else at the mouths of rivers, or in water near the coast ; and it 

 appears to obtain its food chiefly under the water, being a most expert diver, so much so that it 

 will dive at the flash when fired at. Its flight is rapid, direct, and accompanied by a whistling 

 sound produced by the rapid action of its small, stiff, sharp-pointed wings ; and from this sound 

 its name " Whistler " (by which it is known both on our coasts and on the other side of the 

 Atlantic) is derived. When swimming, it carries the neck drawn in, the feathers on the 

 head being somewhat puffed out. When undisturbed it sits rather lightly on the surface, but 

 can, especially when alarmed, swim so low in the water that the back is only just shown above 

 the surface. It usually seeks safety from pursuit either by swimming away or diving, and 

 appears rather loth than otherwise to take wing. It feeds chiefly on small crustaceans and 

 minute water-insects, small fish, and vegetable substances which grow in the water, and obtains 

 its food chiefly by diving. Its flesh is so fishy that it is scarcely fit for food, however carefully it 

 is prepared. 



So far as my own experience goes, the Golden-eye always deposits its eggs in a hollow tree, 

 at some height above the ground ; but Naumann says that it frequently breeds in the reeds or 

 rushes close to the edge of the water. In 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 the waterfowl to breed in, and which are called 

 by the Swedes " holkar," and by the Finns " pontto." 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 entire brood is taken in safety from the elevated 

 nesting-place ; and I have been assured by the peasants that this always takes place in the dead 

 of the night. The eggs 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-j§ by l|-§ 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. 



