GOOSANDERS AND ALLIED SPECIES. 201 



they can easily rid themselves of part of their hurden. Their 

 flight is quick, direct, and performed by regular beats. They 

 pass the summer in the colder regions, and in autumn advance 

 southward, although, not requiring a high temperature, many 

 remain in the northern parts. Their nests, rather bulky, and 

 lined with down, which the female plucks from her breast, 

 are placed on the borders of lakes or on islands. The eggs are 

 numerous, elliptical, cream-coloured, or white. The young, 

 covered Avith stiffish down, presently betake themselves to 

 the water, under the protection of the female, who is deserted 

 by the male as soon as incubation commences. When fledged 

 they resemble the females. The young males acquire their 

 perfected plumage at the second or third moult. 



All the birds of this family were included by Linnaeus in 



his genus Mergus, to which Ave usually give the name of 



Merganser. Of the four species that inhabit Europe and 



North America, one, Mergus Albellus, differs from the rest 



in having the bill so much shorter and broader as to resemble 



that of a Duck, Avhile its marginal lamellae are oblique, and 



not pointed as in the larger species. Another, of about the 



same size as the last, has the bill more elongated, but with 



the lamellae compressed and abrupt at the end. It has been 



thought expedient to form the first of these small species 



into a genus, and I think not without reason. The other 



small species, although it has a longer bill, is otherwise so 



very similar in form and size, that, rather than make a genus 



of it, one might attach it to its neighbour, until other species 



having similar characters cast up ; but it is still more nearly 



allied to the larger species. Now, the Linnaean generic 



name, Mergus, ought to be continued with the larger, more 



conspicuous, and best known species : thus, Mergus Merganser 



and Mergus Serrator. But as Brisson, a contemporary of 



Linnaeus, named the same genus Merganser, it has been 



thought more expedient to make that the generic name of 



the large species, and employ the Linnaean name, Mergus, 



for the small species. If, on the other hand. Merganser, 



which signifies Diver-Goose, be applied to the large species, 



why should not Merganas, or Diver-Duck, be applied to the 



smaller ? There is no consistency in the nomenclature of 



