The American Golden-eye 



wing-coverts, the inner secondaries, and outer scapulars, centrally, pure white; remain- 

 ing upperparts black, the white scapulars being black-bordered, and the feathers of 

 sides similarly black-bordered along upper margin of the region, and on the lower 

 margin of the elongated posterior feathers; lower belly mottled with dusky. Bill 

 black; feet orange with dusky webs and claws; iris orange-yellow. Adult female: 

 Head deep snuff-brown, without white spot; the color not reaching so far down on the 

 neck as black of male; remaining black of male generally replaced by grayish dusky; 

 sides of breast, chest, and sides more or less overlaid, or underlaid, with the same; 

 white of wing interrupted by dusky gray, mostly confined to inner secondaries and 

 adjacent tertiaries. Bill varied with orange. Young male: Like adult female, but 

 darker and with increasing indications of loral white spot. Adult male length 457.2- 

 584.2 (18.00-23.00); wing 233.7 (9-20); tail 88.9 (3.50); bill along culmen 34.3 (1.35); 

 bill from frontal angle to tip 48.3 (1.90); depth of upper mandible from frontal angle 

 to tomia 23.4 (.92); from anterior margin of white spot to anterior angle of nostril 

 24.1 (.95); from anterior angle of nostril to tip of bill 20.3 (.80); tarsus 38.1 (1.50). 

 Female length about 419. 1 (16.50); other dimensions proportionately smaller. 



Recognition Marks. — Mallard size; black and white coloration; round white 

 spot at base of bill on side; bright yellow eyes. 



Nesting. — Nest: In hollow or decayed tree or stub, lined with grass and 

 down. Eggs: 6 to 15; dull greenish gray (between mineral-gray and tea-green). 

 Av. size 59.7 x 43.2 (2.35 x 1.70). Season: May 10-June 20; one brood. 



Range of Glaucionetta clangula. — Northern Hemisphere, breeding in Arctic and 

 sub-Arctic regions: wintering south to Persia, northern India, Japan, and Mexico. 



Range of G. c. americana. — Breeds from central Alaska, northern Mackenzie, 

 central Keewatin, northern Ungava, and Newfoundland, south to northern tier of 

 states. Winters from the Aleutians, Utah, Nebraska, Minnesota, and the northern 

 tier of eastern states south to Florida, central Mexico, and southern California. 



Distribution in California. — Fairly common winter resident, chiefly coast- 

 wise. Rare south to Point Conception. Numerous interior "records," but these 

 in themselves indicative of rarity. 



Authorities. — Baird (Bucephala americana), Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv., vol. ix., 

 1858, p. 796 (Bodega; San Francisco); Lamb, Condor, vol. xiv., 1912, p. 34 (Mohave 

 Desert); Willett, Pac. Coast Avifauna, no. 7, 1912, p. 25 (status in s. Calif.). 



OF ALL wing-music, from the droning of the Rufous Hummer to the 

 startling whirr of the Ruffed Grouse, I know of none so thrilling sweet as 

 the whistling wing-note of the Golden-eye. A pair of the birds have been 

 frightened from the water, and as they rise in rapid circles to gain a view 

 of some distant goal, they sow the air with vibrant whistling sounds. 

 Owing to a difference in wing-beats between male and female, the brief 

 moment when the wings strike in unison with the effect of a single bird 

 is followed by an ever-changing syncopation, which challenges the waiting 

 ear to tell if it does not hear a dozen birds instead of only two. Again, 

 in the dim twilight of early morning, while the birds are moving from a 

 remote and secure lodging place to feed in some favorite stretch of wild 

 water, one guesses at their early industry from the sound of multitudinous 

 wings above, contending with the cold ether. 



1815 



