RED -BREASTED GOOSANDER. 223 



length accomplished her task, helps her young ones from the 

 shells, and presently takes them with her to the water, where 

 they swim and dive as expertly as if it were their native 

 element. 



This bird flies with rapidity, in the manner of a duck, its 

 wings whistHng as it speeds along. It is very shy, vigilant, 

 and active, so that the only good chance one has of shooting 

 it on the water, is either when it is floating with its head 

 below, or just as it emerges after diving. Its flesh, however, 

 is not in request, being tough, oily, and with Avhat is called a 

 fishy flavour. On ordinary occasions, it rises from the water 

 at a very low angle, strildng the surface with its feet and 

 wings, but it is able also to spring up directly either from the 

 ground or from the water. Its food consists of fishes of 

 various kinds, sand-eels, podleys, fresh-water eels, and 

 trouts. 



The moult takes place fr'om the middle of summer to the 

 middle of autumn. The males after leaving the females 

 imdergo a change of plumage, which assimilates them in 

 some measure to them ; but in this state I have not observed 

 them. Xor have I taken note of the young birds in their 

 down covering, in which condition they are, however, de- 

 scribed by Mr. Audubon : — " When about a fortnight old, 

 the young, such as I found them in Labrador, are entirely 

 covered with soft down, wliich is dusky reddish-brown on the 

 head and hind neck, gi-eyish-brown on the back, with three 

 white patches on each side, one terminating the wing, another 

 a little behind it, the third, which is larger, behind the leg ; 

 the lower parts gi-eyish-white ; a white band from the eye to 

 the bill, a reddish-brown band under the eye and along the 

 side of the neck." 



In Ireland it is also indigenous, though " the numbers 

 are greatly increased in winter by migration from the 

 north." 



Young. — When fledged, the young are similar to the 

 adult female ; but have the bill and feet duller, the iris yel- 

 low, the throat dotted w*ith light red, the brownish-red of the 

 neck less extended, and most of the feathers tipped with 



