Jan., 1911 COURTSHIP OF THE AMERICAN GOLDEN-EYE 25 ually sank themselves deeper in the water than did the drakes. The latter, whether 'adult or immature, floated very lightly, showing the greater part of their bodies above the surface. Those in full nuptial l?lumage were handsome birds whose strongly contrasting black and white coloring made them conspicuous under all conditions and at long distances. When they were near at hand I could see the greenish iridescence on their big, fluffy heads glint and shimmer in the sunlight. Evidently they were quite conscious of their personal attractiveness, and devoted themselves to bringing it to the attention of the females by a variety of odd and interesting motions some of Which were calculated to display it to the best advan- tage. They kept calling, also, uttering a queer, strident note wholly new to me. While thus engaged they were incessantly swimming to and fro, shifting from one group of birds to another and ever seeking or following the female? with tireless persistence, but without haste and with a decorous restraint of manner most unus- ual in courting birds and very interesting to behold. By no means all the fljlly mature drakes took part in these proceedings. There were at least five or six of them who remained apart from the others, either in solitary state or each in com- pany with a female apparently its mate, and who busied themselves during the entire time I had them under observation in diving for food or floating idly on the glassy surface, preening their feathers every now and then. The others, while actively employed in "showing off", in the presence of the females, indulged, as I have said, in a variety of movements, gesticula. tions and postures, all more or less grotesque and probably most of them peculiar to the season of love-making if not also characteristic of the ceremonial of Whistler courtship. I saw them all re-. peated many times under conditions very favorable for close and accurate observa- tion. For convenience of treatment in describing them I shall first designate them by the following terms which, if somewhat fanciful, are, I trust, at least helpfully suggestive: GESTICUI, ATIONS 1. The nod--made with the head. 2. The kick--made upward with one or both (?) feet. 3. The Jbrward thrust--of the head and neck. 4. The upward thrust--of the head and neck. 5. The back #irust--of the head and neck. 1. The crouching pose. 2. 77?e wounded duck ;bose. 3. Whe bow-sprit ;bose. 4. Whe mast-head ;bose. 5. The folded duck-skn ;bose. To these should be added, for purposes of comparison, 6. The normalpose--i.e., the position ordinarily taken by birds of both sexes when floating or swimming about. The love note to which ! have alluded may be known as the bleat. I do not like this term, for it is not accurately suggestive of the sound; but it comes nearer being so than anything else I can think of--hence its adoption. After 'hearing it hundreds of times this morning I should describe it as a short, flat, vibrant paaap not unlike that of the Woodcock but a trifle more prolonged and also less harsh and incisive. It reminded me somewhat of the blast of a penny trumpet, less forcibly of the wheezy quack of a drake Black Duck. It did not
