The range of this Duck is much more restricted than is that of its ally the common Golden-eye : 

 it is found only in the northern portions of the Palsearctic and Nearctic Regions, not migrating 

 far south in the winter ; for even in Iceland it is a resident species throughout the year. It 

 has not been known to occur on the shores of Great Britain, but is resident in Greenland and 

 Iceland. Holboll says that in Greenland it is almost restricted to the Bay of Godthaab, its 

 range being between 63° 45' and 64° 30' N. lat., and outside this the natives do not know it at 

 all ; and he adds that Mr. Jorgensen, a missionary who lived several years at Julianehaab, 

 records it as breeding between Nenortalik and Sydproven. In Iceland this Duck is tolerably 

 common and resident. Faber, who did not recognize the distinctions between this species and 

 Clangula glaucion, says (Prodr. Isl. Orn. p. 70) that it is rarer in the south than in the north of 

 Iceland. It arrives about the middle of March at its breeding-places, which are near fresh water ; 

 and numbers breed at Myvatn, often using the earth huts, built for the sheep, for a nesting- 

 place ; hence it is called by the natives Husond (House-Duck). Late in May it lays twelve or 

 fourteen eggs, light green in colour, and about as large as those of the Scaup. When the male 

 and female fly together in the pairing-season, one utters a loud quacking ga-ga-ga-ga-gaarr, which 

 is answered with a harsh note by the other. Early in September Faber saw them at Myvatn 

 with young not fully feathered. About the end of November they resort to the sea ; and though 

 some migrate, yet not a few are to be met with throughout the winter, especially in the narrow 

 bays in the north of Iceland and at the warm waters. The male, he adds, only attains its full 

 plumage in the third year. Dr. Kriiper writes (Naumannia, 1S57, i. p. 42) that its range is very 

 restricted in Iceland, and it is chiefly met with on Myvatn. Elsewhere he observed it on the 

 Laxa, near Geirastadr, Hamar (where he took eggs on the 14th June), and at the waterfall on 

 the Laxa, about a mile south of Laxamyri. It is to be met with on the Myvatn throughout the 

 year ; and in the winter it takes refuge in the portion between Reykjahlid and Vogar, where there 

 are warm springs and the lake never freezes. It does not appear to have occurred in the Fseroes, 

 and is very rare in Scandinavia. Mr. R. Collett says that he only knows of two occurrences of 

 this Duck in Norway, on both occasions in East Finmark, where Nordvi believes that it is more 

 often met with. One, an old male, was shot at Nyborg in 1848, and was in company with 

 Golden-eyes ; and a young male was obtained at Vardo in September 1851, when in company 

 with several others. I do not find it recorded from the Swedish, Finnish, or North-Russian 

 coasts ; and Borggreve says that there does not appear to be any undoubted record of its occur- 

 rence on the coasts of North Germany. Baron Fallon states that it appears accidentally only 

 on the coasts of Belgium, but does not cite any instance of a specimen having been obtained 

 there ; and I do not find it recorded from Holland, France, or Portugal ; but that it does 

 straggle further south than these countries appears certain from the fact that I possess a 

 young male which was obtained near Valencia, in Southern Spain, by a collector of Mr. Howard 

 Saunders. 



On the American continent the present species is found both on the Atlantic and Pacific 

 coasts. It appears to be tolerably common in Hudson's Bay and off the coasts of Labrador ; and 

 I found it by no means very rare in the Bay of Fundy during the winter season, though far less 

 numerous than the common Golden-eye. It has also been met with, Dr. Coues says, as far 

 south as New York ; and in Western America it was procured by Mr. W. Henshaw at Utah, 



