Linnaeus, in his tour in Lapland, refers to theegg-boxesiof
the natives, when near Lycksele, in thé following terms
« A little further on a couple of young Owls were, suspended
on a tree. On my inquiring what these birds had. done to
be so served, the tower made m&remmk,xm the most lofty^
of the fir-tre'es, concave cylinders of wood, closed at top and
bottom, and having an aperture on one side.^ Thesè'icylin-
ders are placed, on the highest part of th e . trees, ‘in order 'to
tempt Wild Ducks to lay. their in thém,!.and;they-are
afterwards plundered by^ thói In onès.*of
these nests a brood of young Owls .had been hatched instead
of young Ducks.”
West- 1 o f ; Scandinavia the Golden E^ems-ïfoundraat the
Faroe Islands, Iceland,' and greenland welk'known
and described by the ornithologists!.of North America. East
of Great Britain-if is found in winterm Hollanfi^ndsGer-
many ? on the coast of France, and .alko? sometimes,tin the
interior. I t waits, though rarely^ the lakes of Switzerland,
and hag_ been taken in Provencm Mt Savi includes if in
his Birds of Italy, and mentions, that from the circumstance
of this Duck having a light-coloured patch idhtdditionjtp
its light-coloured_-eyé on eaOh side” bf-its- hea^afjsy?-in different
parts of that-country, called Quattr-occhi, (four eyes.)
The Zoological - Society have received specimens, sent by
Keith Abbott, Esq., from Trebizond; the Russian naturalists
found it in the vicinity of the Caucasus ? and M. Temminck
says that the Golden Eye of Japan is identical with the bird
of Europe.
The Ornithological Society of London have preserved a
female Golden Eye on the canal in St. .Tames s Park fer
-the last two years; she associates constantly; with a male
Smew.
The adult male has the bill bluish-black; the hides
g o ld e n -y e llow ; at the base of the upper mandible, a roundish
white patch; head, and sides of the neck rich glossy green,
the feathers on the occiput a little elongated ; chin and throat
black 'flower part of heck all round white ; middle line of
thé back and the rump bluish-black ; tail-feathers greyish-
black ; point of wing black ; both sets of wing-coverts black
atî&eibase, white aL.tfee^nd ; primaries and tertials black ;
Secondaries and scapulars,white, the latter edged with black ;
breast, belly, and under taibcoverts white ; flanks and thighs
dull, greyish-black ; legs and, toes yellow, the connecting
membranes;blanks^,;u*fih&whole length nineteen inches; from
the^aipaljoint'to.the^p&d.of the wing nine inches; the first
quill-ÉIIÆher -the lorigesidn the wing.
The'-lïemale is smaller thak the male, and has the bill
brownish-black at Ipè base, orange-brown towards the point ;
the*'head, and upper part of the neck all round, ^hair-brown,
‘feilowtfhis' a broad collar of whitef^lower part of neck, back,
rump,i^apÉ tail-feSthers- greyish-blacky edged with bluish-grey ;
'Sdi'aller win^coBefts1» edged with white ; secondaries and
greater1 coverts white ; primaries dusky ; breast and belly
fgreyish-white ; sidês?; flanks,i and under tail-coverts mottled
withig^ëyigh-Maçk ; legs, t.oes? and their membranes as in
the males.
Y:oung~birds, for the first six months, resemble the female,
but Spang males,-beginning to assume their proper colours,
have j the brown of the- head darker; ;• the occipital feathers
’slightly elongated, causing the head to appear bushy and
larger; the white colour on the wings occupies more surface,
and being purer in its tint is more conspicuous ; the scapulars
exhibit ^scÉae white lines ; the back is darker, almost black ;
and the- bird '.is altogether larger in size ; in this state it has
Æ^en: called the Morillon, and was considered, for a time, a
species distinct from the Golden Eye, but repeated examinations
of the internal parts, particularly the organ of voice,
has proved it’to be the young of the bird first described. I
have seen young males putting forth a few small white feathers,
the commencement of the white patch at the base of