318 BUCEPHALA CLANGULA 



after Harper's nest was vacated (July 11), two birds (a pair?) came to the nest and 

 after that several birds were apparently laying in it, although he saw no full-plu- 

 maged (but possibly eclipse) males about. Competition then seems severe in many 

 places but this is coupled with a certain amount of cooperation or a sort of com- 

 munism that is entirely different from the parasitism usually encountered. It is still 

 unexplained where these very late-nesting females find mates and manage (if they 

 do) to lay fertile eggs. From his long experience with nesting Golden-eyes in Maine 

 Mr. Brewster was inclined to think that the males are polygamous, which if true 

 would account very well for the group-nesting of the females. 



Reliable observers have seen the exit of the young and describe it as a veritable 

 "pouring out" or "boiling out," the little ones landing a few feet from the base of 

 the tree (eight or ten) whether it be on land or water. Those hatched during the late 

 afternoon apparently stay in the nest until the next morning, when the female 

 alights at the base of the tree, swims around it, clucking for a few turns, and then, 

 stopping directly under the hole, gives a single loud chuk which is immediately re- 

 sponded to by the appearance of an avalanche of the little ones (Brewster, 1900; 

 Harper, MS.; Merrikallis, quoted in Bull. British Ornith. Club, vol. 40, pp. 151-52). 



Groups of young are very apt to join, as they do with Mergansers. Harper saw 

 thirty -two, with only one visible female in attendance and these were obviously of at 

 least two different ages. The Golden-eye certainly verges on communism in all its 

 nesting activities. 



The vitality of the young when first hatched has astonished those who have caught 

 them. They easily climb up any sort of material, smooth or wet wood, or cloth, by a 

 series of jumps, and they can leap from the ground or water to a height of eight to 

 twelve inches by the power of their legs alone. When first released they swim off with- 

 out any practice and one that Harper caught from the nest went under like a flash al- 

 most as soon as it felt the water. After an hour's separation from the rest of the brood 

 this youngster appeared very shy of its mother and even started to swim away, 

 but eventually joined its own family in a hesitating fashion. 



The males leave the females at about the time when incubation commences and 

 differ from most other ducks in that they all seem to depart in a body. Possibly they 

 go north. At any rate eclipse males are extremely rare. Harper saw the last adult 

 males in Athabasca Lake on June 9 and none after that until middle October! There 

 is a mystery here as well as in Barrow's Golden-eye that needs explaining. 



Status. An abundant duck, it holds its own extremely well and depends more 

 on available trees for nesting than on protection accorded to it during the autumn 

 and winter. It could easily be increased on its nesting grounds were proper nest- 

 boxes provided. This subject was discussed by Lonnberg (1922) in a little pamphlet 

 which I have been unable to obtain. 



