76 
GOLDEN-EYE DUCIL 
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 truly 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. 
Townsend 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, mollusca, young frogs, tadpoles, crayfish, and, I believe, some 
