THE GOOSANDER 171 



too, is not so essentially a bird of the hills as the Goosander, 

 for it may be found nesting along the shores of broad rivers 

 in the Lowlands, whereas the Goosander is confined to the 

 true Highlands. 



Considering the exposed nature of the ground where 

 it breeds, the Goosander is an early nester. Before March 

 is out the first eggs are laid, and the young are hatched 

 before the Merganser has commenced to brood. The 

 nesting station of the Goosander is usually a hollow in 

 some very old tree, and the nest may be at a consider- 

 able distance from water. Sometimes it is placed in 

 a crevice of a rock, or in a hollow amongst large stones. 

 A recent expedition I made to a nesting site of the Goos- 

 ander resulted in the discovery of a hen bird sitting 

 hard in the hollow of an old Scots pine. It may be men- 

 tioned that this tree is one of the most resistant to decay, 

 and it is rare indeed to find a specimen containing a hole 

 of sufficient size to suit the requirements of a lady Goos- 

 ander, so that when such a hollow is discovered it is almost 

 certain to be tenanted. The nesting site in this particular 

 instance was in a forest of Scots pines about 1200 feet 

 above sea-level. A couple of evenings before, an orni- 

 thologist companion and I had seen a particularly hand- 

 some Goosander drake feeding on the shallows of the 

 river a few miles lower down, and we learned from a 

 neighbouring stalker that the previous season a Goosander 

 had nested in a hollow tree in the forest above. 



The day of the expedition was in early May, and in 

 the clear atmosphere all the hills were most sharply defined. 

 On the high peak of Loch-na-gar the sun shone brightly, 

 lighting up the great snowfields on its north-facing slopes. 

 Nearer at hand the Glen of the Golden Eagle was in dark, 

 deep shadow, while away to the nor'west a great inky 

 black cloud was gathering about Beinn a' Bhuird, the 

 whole hill being soon blotted out in a storm of rain and 



