GOOSANDER. 4S3 



in immature plumage ; later in the season adult examples 

 are occasionally met with. 



It is not uncommon in the Humber ; it occurs also at 

 Flamborough, Bridlington, Scarborough, and other coast 

 stations, but cannot be termed an abundant species. In 

 the Teesmouth area it is occasionally killed from the " scars," 

 or on the sands at Redcar, during the prevalence of on-shore 

 gales, and was formerly not infrequent in the Tees estuary, 

 but is now considered as being of rather rare and irregular 

 occurrence. 



In some seasons of exceptional severity its numbers are 

 augmented by later comers from far northern latitudes, and 

 at these periods some very fine adult birds of both sexes have 

 been procured, though the old males are considered rare in 

 mild seasons. 



The Goosander is more of a fresh water species than its con- 

 gener, M. serrator, and often follows the course of the various 

 rivers and their affluents, being seen in localities far distant from 

 the coast. The late Rev. J. W. Chaloner of Newton Kyme 

 stated that, on 6th March 1884, he noticed nine Goosanders 

 in magnificent plumage on the river Wharfe, behind his house, 

 an extraordinary number to be seen at that place. On the 

 river Hull at Beverley it is fairly common ; several flocks 

 were observed in the winter of 1864-65 and 1870-71, twelve 

 specimens being procured in the latter year, and many superb 

 old male examples have occurred there. In the winter of 

 1886-87 it was more than usually numerous in the Humber. 



It has also been obtained on most of the fresh water lakes 

 and reservoirs in the North and West Riding dales. It is 

 noted at Malham Tarn, and is reported as a rare visitor from 

 the upper reaches of the Ribble, Wharfe, Yore, Tees, and 

 indeed almost every part of the county where pure and fresh 

 flowing streams are found. One was shot by Mr. (now Sir) 

 Alfred Pease, in 1883, in a small beck near Guisborough, and 

 three years later another was seen in exactly the same place. 

 An example captured in Lower Wharfedale, in March 1886, 

 disgorged a trout ten inches in length, while the Rev. F. O. 

 Morris stated (" British Birds "), that in the gizzard of one 



