BARROWS GOLDEN-EYE 331 



in late autumn, where either in the interior or on the coast they become about as 

 wild as the Common Golden-eyes. 



In the Rocky Mountain district this Golden-eye nests only in elevated regions, 

 sometimes as high as 10,000 feet in Colorado (W. L. Sclater, 1912). The site chosen 

 is always an opening in a dead tree or the top of a hollow stub. One described by A. 

 Brooks (1903) in what was probably the deserted nest of a flying squirrel in a Doug- 

 las fir, was fifty feet from the ground. This tree was four hundred yards from the 

 water, but most nest sites are far lower down and much nearer the water, in general 

 very similar to the sort of places chosen by the Common Golden-eye. An unusual 

 situation for an American nest was the hay-loft of a deserted log barn on the shore of 

 a lake in the Okanagan region. The eggs were placed in a hollow scooped in the 

 straw under a heavy beam which rested on the piled-up straw. This situation had 

 apparently been used for some time, for in previous years the old birds had been 

 seen alighting on the top of a chimney of an unused house close by (Munro, 1918). 



The entrance to the nest cavity may be as small as four inches in diameter. Allan 

 Brooks writes me that he has found several instances of cracked eggs of both this 

 species and the Bufne-head. In his opinion the eggs were actually cracked in the 

 oviduct owing to the compression of the body of the female in entering the nest-hole. 

 A cracked egg, with the cracks "sealed over," has also been found in the nest of a 

 Carolina Duck. 



In Iceland where there are no suitable trees the natural sites are always holes in 

 the rock, crevices in the lava islands in the lakes being particularly well suited. Some- 

 times these holes are very deep with narrow openings, and on occasion the nest has 

 been found at some height above the water. Usually, however, it is but slightly 

 above the water level and in close proximity to it. Nests on the open ground under 

 bushes, as mentioned by Faber, if they occur at all, must be very exceptional. Due 

 to protection, these Icelandic Golden-eyes have become very familiar, and do not 

 hesitate to make their nests in curious places, such as turf walls of huts, sheep- 

 shelters or stables. At times they have even been known to take advantage of 

 mangers or semi-dark corners of stables, using the door as an entrance (Kriiper, 

 1857; Riemschneider, 1896; Slater, 1901; Hantzsch, 1905; Millais, 1913). 



Actual nest sites in Greenland or Ungava have not been described, but it is reason- 

 able to suppose that there, too, they must occupy fissures in the rocks. 



When breeding in trees no material other than down is used to make the nest, but 

 when under rocks a little grass and vegetation is used as a pad for the eggs. 



So far as known the clutch is the same as in the Common Golden-eye, averaging 

 perhaps eight to ten and reaching a maximum of fourteen or fifteen. In Iceland, at 

 least, two or more birds not infrequently lay in the same hole, and since the nests are 

 regularly plundered it is often difficult to calculate the number of eggs laid by any 

 one bird. The eggs are similar in color and shape to those of the Common Golden- 



