THE GOLDEN EYE. 513 



dency to a black bar across the tips of the greater coverts ; the white of the wing 

 sometimes well defined. 



Length, eighteen and seventy-five one-hundredths inches ; wing, eight and fifty- 

 one-hundredths ; tarsus, one and fifty one-hundredths ; commissure, two inches. 



Hob. — Whole of North America. 



This handsome species is a common spring and autumn 

 resident in New England ; and in mild winters is often seen, 

 both in the bays and rivers on the coast, and in the lakes 

 and ponds in the interior, when they are open. It breeds 

 in the northern portions of New England, particularly in 

 the lake country of Northern Maine. I have found it, in the 

 breeding season, in Lake Umbagog, and in the Magalloway 

 River; but, although I searched carefully for its nest, I 

 could not find it. This might have been, and probably was, 

 owing to the nature of the nesting-place ; for I saw several 

 pairs, and the localities were those which this bird selects 

 for the purpose of incubation. 



The nest of this species is built in a hole, in a tall dead 

 tree, or in the top of a tall stub, which is hollowed sufficiently 

 for its reception. The pines and hemlocks often die ; and, 

 standing for years, the bark drops off, then the limbs, until 

 the body is at last left, a single straight, smooth, white shaft, 

 often from forty to fifty feet high, and two or three feet thick 

 at its base. At last, in a fierce storm or gale, the shaft either 

 breaks off close to the ground, or at sometimes the height 

 of twenty or more feet ; leaving, in the top that remains 

 standing, a huge rent, sometimes a foot or even more in 

 depth. In this the Golden Eye nests ; building of grass, 

 leaves, moss, and down from its own breast, a warm struc- 

 ture, in which she lays from six to ten eggs. These are 

 generally very rounded in form, of a greenish-blue color, 

 and average from 2.40 by 1.75 inch to 2.36 by 1.78 inch 

 in dimensions. The loud whistling of the wings of this 

 species, as it passes through the air, has given it the name 

 of the " Whistler." The bird feeds on small fish and 

 various aquatic plants, and, when living in the interior, is 



33 



