GOLDEN-EYE DUCK. 3(35 



The whistling of its wings may be distinctly heard when it is more than 

 half a mile distant. This statement may be found to be in contradiction to 

 those of probably every previous writer, for it has been a general opinion, 

 that the greater the extent of wing the more rapid is the flight, which is 

 anything but correct. On flying from the water, they proceed for a con- 

 siderable distance very low, not rising to any height until they have 

 advanced several hundred yards. 



The only nest of the Golden-eye which I have examined, I discovered, on 

 the 15th of June, on the margin of a small creek about eight miles from Green 

 Bay. The female left it, probably to go in search of food, whilst I was 

 sitting under the tree in which it was, thinking more of my peculiar situa- 

 tion than of birds of any kind, for I was almost destitute of ammunition, 

 and bent on returning to my family, then in Louisiana. How exciting are 

 such moments to the ardent observer of Nature! In an instant, hunger, 

 fatigue, even the thoughts of my beloved wife and children, vanished; and 

 in a few minutes I was safely lodged on the tree, and thrusting my arm into 

 the cavity of a large broken branch. Nine beautiful, greenish, smooth eggs, 

 almost equally rounded at both ends, were at my disposal. They were laid 

 on some dry grass of the kind that grew on the edges of the creek, and 

 were deeply imbedded in the down of the bird. Not being then aware of 

 the necessity of measuring or keeping, eggs, I roasted them on some embers, 

 and finding them trul} T delicious, soon satisfied my hunger. While I was 

 eating them, the bird returned, but no male was to be seen. Whether many 

 of these birds breed within the limits of the Union I cannot tell. Dr. 

 Richardson says they are abundant in the Fur Countries, and Mr. Town- 

 send states, that they are plentiful on the Rocky Mountains and along the 

 north-west coast of America. 



Of the changes which the young males undergo, nothing is known beyond 

 the fact, that the young of both sexes resemble the adult female, until the 

 approach of the first spring, when their general migration northward 

 removes them from our observation. 



At the approach of spring, I have observed this species swell the throat 

 and the feathers of the head, and emit their rough croaking notes very 

 frequently. The males at this period become very pugnacious, though, after 

 all, they remove northward together, preceding the females for at least a 

 fortnight. They usually spend the autumn and the earlier parts of winter 

 separate from the females. These birds have, like the Goosanders, a habit 

 of shaking their heads violently on emerging from the water. Their flesh 

 is fishy, and in my opinion unfit for being eaten, unless in cases of excessive 

 hunger. The food of this species, while on fresh water, consists of fish of 

 various kinds, rnollusca, young frogs, tadpoles, cn^fish, and, I believe, some 



