GOOSANDER 43 



merely moving up and down according to season ; in winter they 

 may be found all along the foot of the Himalayas, in northern 

 Burma, the south Assamese hills, and even as far south as the 

 Godavari and Bombay, where E. H. Aitken once shot one on 

 salt water. 



Their food is mainly fish, though they eat other live things 

 as well, and in captivity will feed on raw rice freed from the 

 husks ; they are extremely greedy, and will eat over a quarter 

 of a pound of fish at a meal, digesting bones and all. They 

 are therefore not birds to be encouraged where the fishing is 

 valued, and there is likewise this excuse for shooting them, 

 that they are likely to be appreciated by natives vi^ho, like our 

 Elizabethan ancestors, like a good strong-tasting bird. 



Moreover, they are really sporting birds ; they are wary and 

 require careful stalking, and when hit are by no means booked, 

 as they will dive literally to the death. Mr. Baker records a case 

 in which a female, after being hit, managed to keep out of range 

 of his boat, propelled by two men, for half an hour, and then 

 appeared on the surface dead, having died while diving, game to 

 the last. They are naturally fast swimmers as well as good 

 divers, and though they often, when floating quietly, sit nearly 

 as high out of the water as an ordinary duck, also swim low 

 with the tail awash, and when wounded or frightened show 

 only the head and neck above water, much like a cormorant. 

 They also have the cormorant-like habit of sitting erect on the 

 shore, partially expanding their wings, though here again their 

 carriage is often level and like that of an ordinary duck. So 

 it is when walking, when they look less awkward than some 

 diving ducks ; when running on land, and this they can do well 

 at a pinch, they stand very erect. 



They resemble cormorants, too, in often fishing in concert, 

 forming a line across the stream and all diving together, so as 

 to drive the fish before them. Although perhaps preferring the 

 stiller reaches and pools, they are at home in the most rapid and 

 rushing torrents. They are slow in getting on the wing, but fly 

 fast when well up. The note of the drake is a croak like " karr "; 

 of the female a distinct quack. 



Although the young, which in the down are brown above, 



