56 EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



but is only a summer visitor north of the Arctic Circle. Fur- 

 ther to the east it is a summer visitor to Pomerania, and across 

 Russia and Siberia as far as the Arctic Circle, and as far south 

 as lat. 50°. 



The pale grey down of the Goosander points it out at once as 

 one of the few species of Ducks which breed in holes, those which 

 breed in the open having always dark coloured down. The 

 favourite nesting-place of the Goosander is in a hollow tree- 

 trunk ; but in localities where such sites are not plentiful it 

 shows considerable fertility of resource and capability of adapta- 

 tion to circumstances in choosing the best substitute. The 

 Goosander is an early breeder : in Denmark, Mr. Benzon says 

 that the eggs are laid late in April or early in May ; and even 

 in Finland, Palmen states that they are laid from the middle 

 of May to the middle of June. 



The eggs of the Goosander are from eight to twelve in number, 

 and are creamy- white in colour, somewhat smooth in grain, and 

 rather glossy. They vary in length from 29 to 2"5 inches, and 

 in breadth from 1*9 to 1'8 inch. The down is a nearly uniform 

 greyish-white, which prevents any confusion between the eggs of 

 the Goosander and those of the Velvet and Black Scoters. Large 

 eggs closely resemble those of the former, and small eggs those 

 of the latter, but are slightly yellower. 



THE RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. 

 (Mergus serrator.)* 



Plate 16, Fig. 2. 



The Red-breasted Merganser is only a winter visitor to England, 

 where it is generally distributed both inland and on the coast ; 

 but in Scotland north of the Clyde it is a resident, as it is also in 

 parts of Ireland. It is a circumpolar bird, having almost pre- 

 cisely the same distribution as its congener the Goosander, but 

 it is not known to breed in Turkestan or the Himalayas. Its 

 breeding-range extends from about lat. 50° to the Arctic Circle, 

 but in Scandinavia it reaches to the North Cape. 



It prefers to make its nest under shelter of some kind, some- 

 times under a large rock. Saxby says that it uses rabbit-burrows 



* Merganser serrator — Sharpe, Handb., III., p. Gl. 



