172 GAME BJBDS OF CALIFORNIA 



young from one lake to another when they thought the little ones were 

 in danger. Boardman 's companion also told him that the young were 

 usually carried from the nest to the water in the bill of the parent, 

 but to go any distance the feet were used in carrying them. Bailey 

 (1916a, p. 55) says that at Stump Lake, North Dakota, parent ducks 

 have been seen to fly down from nest holes with young birds on their 

 backs, the ducklings steadying themselves by holding onto the mother 's 

 feathers by their bills. 



Golden-eyes are generally found in small flocks on large bays, 

 lakes or rivers. In flight this duck makes more of a noise with its 

 wings than does any other duck. This peculiarity has given it the 

 common name of "Whistler." It seems to be otherwise perfectly 

 silent in California during the winter, making no noise, except that 

 produced by the whistling of the wings in flight. In a scattered 

 company mixed with other species this duck is usually one of the first 

 to give the alarm, for it is nearly always shy and difficult to approach ; 

 but on occasion, apparently trusting to its dexterity in diving, it 

 will allow a near approach. Both when swimming and in flight it 

 is a very active bird. 



The male "Whistler floats lightly on the water. The female, how- 

 ever, sits much lower in the water. Brewster (1911, p. 29) states that 

 in diving the wings of this species are kept tightly closed whereas the 

 tail is usually spread to the utmost width possible. As a rule the 

 downward plunge is made without much apparent efl'ort, the bird 

 simply immersing its head and then vanishing with surprising if not 

 mysterious quickness. Occasionally it springs upward and forward 

 in the manner of a grebe or merganser, sometimes showing not only 

 the entire outline of the lower parts of the body above the surface but 

 also the whole of the. legs and feet. This species dives so very quickly 

 (at the flash of the powder) that, according to testimony, it could 

 not be shot with the old-fashioned flintlock gun. The flight of the 

 Whistler is powerful, rapid, and protracted. On rising from the 

 water it proceeds at first very low, and does not ascend to its usual 

 height until it has gone a considerable distance. 



Lamb (1912, p. 34) has recorded the following notes on a pair 

 seen November 17, 1910, feeding in a small pond on the Mohave 

 Desert. "At this place the water was about four feet deep. They 

 would dive and stay under the water possibly forty-five seconds, and 

 when coming up I could hear them breathe so plainly, it sounded to 

 me as loud as a full grown man after a hard run. The birds remained 

 on the surface, apparently to recover their breath, about half again 

 as long as they stayed under water." Bailey {1916a, p. 55) observed 

 a female diving and feeding in Stump Lake, North Dakota. As the 

 bird rose above the surface with a morsel of food she would throw 

 her head up as she swallowed it. 



