410 THE GAME BIEDS AND WILD EOWL 



remaining on the surface to watch over the rest. The Golden-eye does not 

 visit the land much, and there its waddling gait is clumsy and awkward enough ; 

 it spends most of its time on the water. At its breeding grounds, however, it 

 frequently perches on trees, probably because it makes its nest in holes in their 

 limbs and trunks. The note of the Golden-eye is a low, croaking kurr, uttered 

 during flight as well as when at rest. The food of this species, which is mostly 

 obtained by diving, consists of small fish, crustaceans, testaceous moUusks, 

 insects, and various aquatic weeds and plants. Its flesh is not only dark in 

 colour but unpalatable. 



Nidification.— The breeding season of the Golden-eye begins soon after 

 the ice breaks up in its Arctic and subarctic haunts towards the end of May, and 

 the eggs are laid from that date onwards until near the end of June. It is very 

 probable that this Duck pairs for life and uses the same nesting site annually. 

 The eggs are laid in holes of trees, often as much as twenty- five feet from the 

 ground, although Naumann asserts (probably where suitable holes cannot be 

 found) that this Duck frequently makes its nest amongst rushes and other 

 aquatic vegetation, and on the top of a pollard, either near to the water or at some 

 considerable distance from it. When in a hole, no nest is made beyond a warm 

 and plentiful lining of down and a few feathers plucked from the body of the 

 parent. It should be remarked that the Golden-eye never attempts to bore 

 a hole for itself, but selects one ready for the purpose, often the deserted nest 

 of a Black Woodpecker. The Lapp and Finnish peasants are in the habit of 

 placing boxes and hollow trunks for this bird to breed in, and from which they 

 regularly and judiciously remove the eggs. The partiality of this bird for 

 a nesting site near a waterfall or quick-flowing stream has been noticed by 

 several observers. The eggs are usually from ten to thirteen in number, but 

 exceptionally as many as nineteen have been found. They are bright greyish- 

 green, smooth in texture, and somewhat glossy, and measure on an average 

 2'3 inches in length by 1'6 inch in breadth. The down tufts are moderate in 

 size and pale lavender-grey in colour, with paler and obscure centres. The 

 young are conveyed to the water one by one, pressed between the female's bill 

 and her breast. One brood only is reared in the year. 



Diagnostic characters — (Nuptial plumage), Glangula, with the head 

 and upper neck metallic green, with a white patch at the base of the bill, not 

 extending above the eye, and with the scapulary region striped with white (adult 

 male) ; with the axillaries brown, with a white alar speculum, and with the 

 under tail coverts white (adult female). Length, 16 to 19 inches. 



