GOLDEN-EYE 321 



they are diving near shore and sometimes by driving them past points. I can recom- 

 mend the former method as an exciting form of sport, one which takes a sure foot 

 and a quick eye, for there is not an instant to lose after the first bird pops up and 

 starts away. 



Few Golden-eyes are taken by punt-shooters in Europe, and fewer still (almost 

 none) were enticed into decoy -pipes. They are far too wise a bird for this sort of con- 

 traption. 



In North Germany a method of getting them by drop-nets operated from huts was 

 described by Xaumann (1896-1905). Some were also taken in horizontal nets spread 

 under water along the coasts which entangled them while diving for food (MacPher- 

 son, 1897). 



Behavior in Captivity. Although this duck has not been shown in collections 

 of water-fowl nearly as often as it should have been, and is usually considered unfit 

 for life in confinement, it nevertheless does rather well in certain places. Mr. H. 

 Astley had a pair for eight years and Mr. St. Quintin kept one for four years. The 

 adult males are said to be the hardest to keep but I cannot see why this should be. 

 At Mr. Blaauw's estate in Holland I saw a pair in 1922 which were twelve years old 

 and had already bred many times. Mr. Blaauw told me that he had no trouble with 

 these ducks once they were established. In 1924 I saw a female on Mr. Wormald's 

 ponds in Norfolk, England, that was caught adult in 1911, so she must have been at 

 least fourteen years old, which may be the record. P. C. Mitchell (1911) mentions 

 the average duration of life for twenty individuals as two years and nine months and 

 he tells of one that lived to be thirteen years and eight months old! Rogeron ap- 

 parently was not able to keep them at all, but I know that in several European 

 gardens they have done well. I believe that nobody has succeeded in breeding them 

 in England and they have never bred under fence in America. 



An old note by Briiggemann (1876) who kept two pairs for several years gives 

 a very good record of the activities of pinioned birds. Each male had a definite 

 area of water in the pond and held it against other males. Their action toward 

 a rival is peculiar. After swimming up in a threatening manner, sticking out the 

 head horizontally, the bird dives, and swims rapidly under water until near his rival, 

 but even under water neither bird invades the other's territory and they often turn 

 around suddenly under water when they reach their limits. When two males meet on 

 the boundary line they both dive, but when they appear again they are farther apart 

 than before. Actual battles did not occur. Briiggemann was the first naturalist to 

 describe the display and the spring call of the male. 



Heinroth (1911) and Lilford (1895) have a good deal to say about the under-water 

 attacks of their Golden-eyes and how they were able by their unexpected dives to 

 scatter the other members of the pond, besides attacking each other. These threat- 



