30G BUCEPHALA CLANGULA 



(Seebohm, 1890; Hatta and Murata, 1905-06; Kuroda, in lilt.). On the mainland some winter on 

 Japan Lake Hanka (Prjevalski, 1878), and it has also been taken in the cold season on 



E as t Saghalin Island (von Schrenek, 1859). According to von Ditmar (1900) they winter 



Siberia even in Kamchatka. On the Commander Islands they do so regularly, though not 



commonly (Stejneger, 1887; Bianehi, 1909; Hartert, 1920). 



Migration 



There can be no doubt that in summer the sexes separate and also that the females and young mi- 

 grate much earlier than old males. The evidence on this point from all parts of the world is quite con- 

 clusive and unanimous. 



The winter distribution of the sexes is more complicated. There are many regions, such as the 

 coasts of England, southern Styria, Italy, southern Russia, Greece, Bulgaria, Dalmatia, etc., where 

 observers have noted the remarkable preponderance of females and young and the great scarcity of 

 males, while the opposite is true of many northern regions. It would be tempting to hazard the opinion 

 that the males never go so far south as the others, and this fits many cases, but not all. It is true, of 

 course, that the young are very much commoner on fresh waters, while the males take more direct 

 routes to the open coast and are not seen on migration nearly as frequently. Then there are certain 

 places, even in latitudes where females and young abound, where a good many males also exist, but 

 somewhat apart from the rest. I was surprised at finding any number of old male Whistlers as far 

 south as Pamlico Sound, North Carolina. There again it is difficult to estimate the proportions of the 

 sexes for the old males are so showy, so restless and so noisy on the wing that one is constantly aware 

 of their presence. 



There is nothing particularly remarkable about the migration dates of the Golden-eye, excepting 

 that they are very irregular and extended, due to separation of the sexes. The females and young 

 move much earlier in the autumn. Like all far-northern breeding ducks they leave for their nesting 

 grounds late, usually not until well into March or in April. The northern breeding areas are seldom 

 reached before May. In the autumn the females and young sometimes appear very early. Young 

 birds are seen so early in the British Isles that it is hard to believe that they were not reared there, 

 and I have shot them at Wenham, Massachusetts, in late September but this is exceptional. Wil- 

 liam Brewster (1924) found that there was some evidence of migration of young birds as early as mid- 

 September at Lake Umbagog, Maine. The adult males, on the other hand, leave for the south very 

 late, mostly waiting until everything is frozen. They can hardly be expected on the wintering grounds 

 before late October or November and they continue to come in right up to Christmas, or perhaps even 

 later. 



GENERAL HABITS 



It is a pleasure to write an account of a bird that is very much of an individualist, 

 whose habits are distinct from those of most of the diving ducks and whose nearest 

 relations are not too close. Shy, hardy, and for the most part distrustful of smaller 

 waters, this restless bird is a true harbinger of winter. With us the first flight of 

 Golden-eye always reminds us that the balmy days of autumn are numbered and that 

 ice will soon be forming. Even after the young of the year and the females appear in 

 late October it is a long time before the cold weather drives down many of the f ull- 

 plumaged old males. 



The Golden-eye is a deep-water duck preferring coastal waters, but common 

 enough wherever there are large inland fresh waters or salt lakes that have plenty 



