GOLDENEYE. 
2 
species on laud unless disabled by wounds. Another pair, also male and female, in immature pluma<>e 
were seen for three or four days after the 8th of May, 1883, on llickling Broad ; the former exhibited the 
white patch on the brown head most conspicuously. 
IVith the exception of the handsome old males which are invariably sought after, punt-shooters have little 
or no inducement to molest this species, its market value being exceedingly low. For the table it is utterly 
useless, the nature of the food consumed (minute shell-fish of various kinds, as well as the innumerable 
insects that inhabit both fresh, brackish, and salt water) rendering the flesh exceedingly strong and fishy*. 
In oi’der to procure specimens in various stages of plumage, I frequently worked up to and examined the 
parties of Goldeneyes met with while gunning on the northern and eastern coasts. Though the adult males 
will be found the most wary of the web-footed tribe, the younger birds usually fall easy victims, for the most 
part evincing little distrust till repeatedly alarmed. When wounded few fowl are able to make more rapid 
progress through the water ; aided by their large and powerful feet and small though sturdy pinions, they 
prove exceedingly hard to recover. Towards the end of December 1881 an immature male I was anxious to 
secure was lost on llickling Broad, after having been disabled by a shot, and on the following morning a 
careful search was instituted round the edge of the hills. At last the bird was detected squatted on the side of 
a marsh-wall, my attention being first attracted by the brightness of the pale yellow eye in the midst of a 
tuft of dead thistles. 
To attempt to give all the local names by which the Goldeneye is known to the gunners on various parts 
of the coast is utterly impossible. In many districts tbe females and young of several of the diving fowl 
are supposed to belong to one species, and necessarily much confusion exists. In the east of Norfolk I have 
usually heard the immature birds termed black and wdiite Pokers, while the adult males are honoured with 
the title of “ Old Ilardweathers.” Goldeneyes when on wing may be heard for some considerable distance, 
the sharp beat of their strong flight-feathers producing a sound that has led to the names of Whistler and 
Rattlewings being bestowed on the species. 
While shooting in the east of Boss-shire it \vas a rare occurrence to pass through the upper waters of the 
Dornoch Firth without finding a fine old drake or two about some of the larger pools between Bonar Bridge 
and Inveran. Ilaving procured a few as specimens, I noticed it was seldom that their favourite quarters were long 
deserted, the spots vacated by those killed being speedily filled by fresh comers. During the early part of 
the winter of 18G8 I had made repeated attempts to obtain a shot at an adult pair that frequented the Kyle 
below Inversion ; the vigilance of the drake, however, enabled them to evade all dangers for a time. Early 
on the morning of the 9th of December, while making our way down towards the firth, a thick haze was 
encountered, drifting slowly in from the east. Suddenly through a break in the mist a couple of fowl were 
detected diving busily close to the south shore in the large pool above Bonar Bridge ; favoured by the shelter 
of a point of land extending some distance into the water, the punt was worked fairly within range of the 
big gun before an alarm was raised. On rising simultaneously to the surface after a lengthened dive the birds 
sprung at once on wing, and crossing each other in the act of turning, a successful shot was obtained, the 
pair falling dead within a yard or two of the bank. For a few moments the smoke mingling with the fog 
hung heavily in wreaths in front of the gun, and it was not till nearing the fowl that a sound resemhling 
a low groan caught my ear, and at once drew attention to the shore, where a horse, apparently dying, was 
discerned through the haze. On landing, the true state of affairs was soon ascertained ; the animal, doubtless 
swept away and drowned in the upper part of the glen by a recent flood, had eventually stranded at the entrance 
to the pool ; by the side of the carcass, and now in his last gasp, lay an unfortunate collie, that had evidently 
been tearing at the flesh when struck down by the shot. At the first glance in the imperfect light the 
* The stomach of a female Goldeneye shot 11th of January, 1883, contained at least a handful of small black bugs of about half an inch in 
length, also a quantity of vegetable remains, as well as gravel and sand. The insects were probably captured in brackish water. 
