THE GOOSANDER 173 



covers her eggs over with the down, and the heat is thus 

 retained for several hours. This is of special value, since 

 the ducks feed mainly in the evening, when the air is 

 cool, and when the eggs would otherwise rapidly lose 

 their warmth. In the case of the nest described above, 

 the Goosander chicks would be able to leave the nest on 

 their own small feet, but sometimes this is quite impossible. 

 For instance, I was recently informed by a stalker that he 

 found a nest in a hollow tree that had no entrance except 

 from above, and, as baby Goosanders could not be ex- 

 pected to clamber up the perpendicular side of a tree, the 

 inference to be drawn is that the chicks are carried out 

 by their mother. Sometimes, too, a Goosander chooses 

 as a nesting site a ledge on a rock from where there is a 

 drop of many yards to the ground below. In such a 

 situation it would be, obviously, impossible for newly- 

 hatched ducklings to reach the ground of their own accord. 



I know a certain rocky gorge bounding the course of a 

 hill burn where a pair of Goosanders nest every year. 

 A mile up the glen is the Loch of the Willow — the Loch 

 an t' Seilich of the Gael — and it is on this loch that the 

 Goosander does the most of her fishing. On the one 

 side the gorge is of considerable height, and it is usually 

 here, on a ledge of rock, that the Goosander duck makes 

 her nest. This year (1914) she decided to try the opposite 

 side, and laid her ten eggs in a hollow among large stones 

 not far from the water's edge. 



It was an unfortunate choice on her part. May was 

 not many days old when a great storm visited the hills. 

 For two days rain fell heavily and steadily, and on the 

 evening of the second day this rain changed to snow. 

 The burn rose rapidly, for the loch at the head of the glen 

 was filled to the brim and still the corries ran water. 

 Nearer and nearer to the nest the waters approached, 

 until at length the Goosander moved out into the storm, 



